Repent
by Ahsoka Kenobi
Summary: This is how the galaxy would have turned out if order 66 had played out slightly differently. I'm not sure how many chapters it is going to be, but hopefully there will be a new one every week. Feel free to leave a review PS my first story
1. Utapau

"It will be done my lord", Commander Cody spoke into his commlink and ordered the AT-TE to fire on General Kenobi. He watched as his commander, whom he had served so loyally over the last three years during the clone wars, plummet down what must have been a fall impossible to survive. Nevertheless, Obi Wan Kenobi was a Jedi, and if there was one thing that the clone wars had taught Cody, it was that whenever you think a Jedi is dead, they never are. The commander had been given strict orders; eliminate all Jedi – no survivors, except for General Skywalker, although the clone was unsure as to why Anakin was allowed to live. So, to be safe, Commander Cody ordered a fleet of probes to search for signs of the fallen Jedi in the caves where his body must have landed, and then proceeded to round up his troops to the upper echelons of the Utapau pit he was standing in, wiping out the last of the separatist droids on their way.

Deep down in the caves of Utapau, Obi Wan Kenobi crashed into a pool of water, deep enough to mask his signature from any clone probes. He reached into his robes and pulled out a mouthpiece that he used for breathing underwater. Obi Wan could not figure out why his clones had turned on him, just seconds beforehand his loyal second in command, Cody, had handed him back his lightsabre. All of Kenobi's instincts were telling him that there was more to his betrayal than meets the eye. As Obi Wan continued to swim deeper into the lake he had landed in, his mind wandered to what was happening to the other Jedi. Whilst he had been falling, the Jedi master had felt a major disturbance in the force and knew that what had happened to him here on Utapau, must be happening all over the galaxy, to what extent, however, Kenobi was unsure. Kenobi noticed an area shallow enough to climb out of the lake, and far enough away that he wouldn't be detected by Commander Cody's search party and headed that way. He couldn't help but think of his good friend Anakin, and if anything had happened to the boy that he had trained from a young age. Obi Wan knew that Anakin thought of him as a father figure, to replace the father that he had never had, and in many ways, Obi Wan thought of him as a son. A sudden rage built up inside him as he thought of the possibility that Anakin could have been betrayed by his clones. Skywalker had always treated his 501st clone battalion with the upmost respect and often endangered himself if it meant saving even just one of the clones that so many Jedi deemed expendable. Kenobi quickly put aside his feelings of anger as he knew that now, more than ever, he would have to have faith in the Jedi order and not succumb to hate and anger. He reached his destination and pulled himself up out of the water and onto dry land. If he didn't find a way back up to his starfighter then he knew he would be stranded on this desolate planet, and calling for an evac was not an option after the betrayal he had just received. Radio silence was a necessity. A quick glance around the cavern showed two possible routes out, one looked like it would lead him right up into the clone occupied pit where his starfighter was landed, whilst the other looked like it was heading off much more gradually into god knows where. It looked like there was no other choice, therefore, for the Jedi master than for him to ascend the shaft into what could be an opening crawling with traitorous clones. One step after another Kenobi climbed up out of the cave, using the force to maintain his balance as he navigated the tricky rock wall. He rounded a corner and saw a stream of light trickling down the shaft, he knew he was close to the top. Erring on the side of caution, Kenobi slowly made his way to the exit where the light was coming from, it was a crack in the wall halfway up the Utapauian pit, not quite big enough for the Jedi master to fit through. Obi Wan quickly backed up against the wall beside the opening as he heard two clone troopers walk past. Obi Wan could have easily taken them if he was discovered, but didn't want the rest of the 212th battalion that he had brought to the planet made aware of his presence. Once the threat had passed, Obi Wan headed back to the crack to see if there was a way through. The wall looked weak around the opening, so Kenobi placed a hand delicately on each side and gave a light press, using the force to break the wall away around the hole and lightly place the fragments silently on the ground, creating a space big enough for him to fit through. After Kenobi stepped out, he took a moment to get his bearings. He was standing on a landing bay on the Eastern side of the Cavern, in order to get to his starfighter he would need to cross almost a kilometre of clone infested ground, and ascend three stories, which the Jedi knew would be no easy task. It looked as though some of the battalion was starting to leave the planet, as there was a steady stream of gunships and troop transports ascending back up to the Venator class star destroyer waiting in orbit. Obi Wan heard another group of clone troopers approaching from around the corner and decided to get moving. He was on a landing platform with minimal cover and decided to head further into the cliff face, where the walls were being kept up by metal pillars and scaffolding, both of which would provide cover and hiding spots from the patrolling clones. Kenobi ducked behind one of the support pillars and looked for an easy way up onto the scaffolding above him. There was a clear space where he could jump up onto the catwalks above, the only problem, however, was that he would need to go into clear view of the clone's, who had now stopped to investigate the hole in the wall, line of sight. He knew it was only a matter of time before the group, which he could now see consisted of three regular clones and an engineer, continued their patrol and discovered him behind his pillar. He had to create a diversion. Kenobi snuck out from behind his cover and spied some loose stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. Using the force, Obi wan subtly dislodged one of the stalagmites and waited for the right time. A republic gunship flew past and Kenobi hurled the stalagmite into the engine. The rock was thrown with enough force to punch a hole in the engine, causing a thunderous bang and thick grey smoke began pouring out. Yells could be heard coming from the clones inside as the gunship lost momentum and began hurtling towards the ground. The patrol by the wall whipped around to face the falling gunship.

"Quickly, after them" The engineer barked at the rest of his group.

The patrol sprinted around the corner towards where the gunship was about to crash, in the hope to save whoever they could from the wreckage. Obi Wan seized the opportunity to head back out into the open and leap onto the catwalks suspended above him. Kenobi had been to Utapau once before, not too long ago when he and Anakin had stopped the separatists from acquiring a large kyber crystal that could have been used to create a diabolical super weapon, and roughly knew his way around the planet's pit's catacombs. Kenobi started to make his way along the catwalk in the direction of his ship, from here on, the hardest part about his escape would be climbing the three stories required to reach his starfighter. That was when he remembered that General Grievous' ship would still be in the landing bay one floor below his current position. Obi Wan quickly decided that it would be much easier to reach and changed direction to head towards the cyborg's ship. With about a hundred meters left to travel, Obi Wan ran out of room on the catwalk. He decided it was probably time to descend onto the right level now anyway, and checked around him to make sure the coast was clear, before silently dropping back down onto the floor. The way down onto the floor below was just around a blind corner to Kenobi's left. He pressed himself up against the corner and strained his ears to try and detect any sound coming from around it. Sure enough, he heard two clones talking.

"Did you find Kenobi?" rang out the unmistakeable voice of Commander Cody. Despite all the clones having the exact same vocal chords, Obi Wan could always tell when it was his commander's voice.

"Sir, no one could have survived that fall" replied another trooper.

"Start loading your men on the ship" commanded Cody, and the troopers scuttled away, not wanting to feel the wrath of their commander. Cody turned to his captain, Gregor

"What do you think?"

"With all due respect sir, I think CC-2289 was right. Not even a Jedi could have survived that fall… Not even Obi Wan" Gregor replied.

"You're right. Tell all troops to get back to the ship, it's time to leave this world". Cody and Gregor began to walk off towards their own transports, leaving a clear path for Obi Wan to follow right to the staircase. Grievous' ship was within sight, however, standing between Kenobi and his ticket off world, were two clones with their backs turned to him, discussing the fight they had just had with the confederate army. Obi Wan knew he would have to be careful here, if he left any lightsabre marks on the clones then it would be clear to Cody that he had survived.

"I jumped on top of one of them right, one of those crab-looking clankers, thought I was about to be shaken off, but I just managed to stay on and bang! Bang! Bang! Right through the tin can's head, fried all the circuitry."

"Reminds me of one time way back on Geonosis, the second time, where I was..."

The second trooper was cut off as he noticed Obi Wan standing a couple of meters away from him, with his lightsabre drawn.

"Get him!" yelled the first trooper, opening fire at his old general.

Kenobi swiftly deflected the blaster shots, one from about his left shoulder was sent hurtling back at his adversary's helmet before Obi Wan quickly pivoted his lightsabre down to his torso to send a second bolt flying back to the other trooper, hitting him square in the chest. Kenobi used the force to position a dead super battle droid by the clone's lifeless body, to make it appear as if they had been killed in combat by the separatist droid. He then sheathed his lightsabre and reattached it to his belt, before jogging over to General Grievous' ship. Obi Wan climbed aboard and wasted no time taking off, leaving the dusty planet far behind to retreat back to the Jedi temple, in the hope of finding out how serious this clone betrayal really was. As soon as he was outside of the clone's detection range he fired up his transmitter.

"Emergency code 913, I have no contact on any frequencies" Kenobi broadcasted openly.

A static image of senator Organa came through but Kenobi was unable to figure out what was being said. It was as if there was another, much weaker signal also trying to get through, but wasn't quite able to.

"Repeat" Obi Wan replied, with hopes of receiving a clearer transmission.

"Master Kenobi" repeated the senator, his voice clear but his picture still extremely distorted.

"Senator Organa, my clone troops turned on my, I need help" Obi Wan informed the senator.

"We have just rescued master Yoda, it appears this has happened everywhere" Organa replied. The static was still there and the signal seemed to be getting weaker and whoever else who was trying to contact Obi Wan seemed to be starting to get through.

"We're sending you our..." Organa was cut off by the noise of an explosion.

"Senator! Senator do you copy" Obi Wan said, desperately trying to establish a better connection.

"Get as far… do not go to the co-ordinates we just sent… no matter what… don't let them track this transmi… Aaaaarggh!" yelled the senator into his transmitter, as he began to break up.

"Senator!" Obi Wan repeated with frustration, punching his ships dashboard as Organa's transmission finally ended. Whoever it was that was also trying to contact him still couldn't get through. He didn't know who it was and was unsure whether to establish contact with them. For all he knew it was a clone regiment trying to hunt him down. Or it could be Anakin trying to get hold of him.

"No" Obi Wan muttered to himself "The risk is too great". If it were a dispatch of clones attempting hunt him down they could easily trace the transmission and he would be a sitting duck, drifting alone in space. But what if it was Anakin. He couldn't leave his apprentice alone if he was in trouble. He knew what he had to do. With a deep breath, he answered the call.

"Master Kenobi" Obi Wan spoke cautiously into his transmitter.


	2. Mandalore

**Mandalore**

Blaster fire was raining down on the young padawan's position. Ahsoka Tano was taking cover behind a cluster of crates on the landing bay outside the Mandalorian citadel, where Darth Maul was holed up with what was left of the Deathwatch.

"Keep pushing forward!" She called out to the Mandalorian army she had mustered during her short time on the planet. Many of the Mandalorians were unhappy with tyrannical rule that Darth Maul and his death watch allies held on the planet, so she had taken a detachment of the 501st battalion, her old master Anakin's regiment, before she had left the Jedi order, to help her liberate the oppressed people. And now victory for her siege on the citadel was finally within sight. All she had to do was cross the open docking bay, with her regiment of Mandalorian warriors, each equipped with specialised jetpacks, to the back of the citadel and up onto the roof, while captain Rex and his clones kept most of the Deathwatch busy by the main entrance. Inside Darth Maul was holed up. Ahsoka was unsure what he was doing, he hadn't left the citadel in weeks. Rumour had it that he was in mourning, Ahsoka could only assume that it was over the loss of his brother Savage Opress, who had Maul had apparently been carrying the body of back to the temple which he had not emerged from since. There were only about a dozen Deathwatch warriors stationed out the back of the citadel, but their prowess in fighting, and shielded silver armour made them difficult to defeat. Ahsoka decided it was time to make her big push to the back wall of the citadel.

"Over here!" she yelled, jumping out from behind her cover to grab the attention of the Deathwatch guards. Immediately the guards turned to here and let rip with their dual wielded blasters. But Ahsoka adopted a strong stance. Legs spread wide to provide stability, she nimbly used her two lightsabres to deflect their blaster shots back at them, taking out two guards in the first second. Seeing two of their comrades fall enraged the remaining Deathwatch guards, who all focused their attention entirely on the young Togruta. This is exactly what she wanted. Turning her back, she ran across the landing pad, forcing the Deathwatch members to follow as she waved her reverse gripped blades behind her, deflecting any blaster bolts being fired on her position. The red lasers streaked across the open landing pad, chasing the yellow and green blur that was illuminating Ahsoka's path. With all the focus now on the young padawan, a path had opened for the Mandalorian freedom fighters to make their way to the citadel's base. From there, the rebels ignited their thruster packs and quickly ascended the side of the building. Once on the roof, the Mandalorian's rained down fire on the Deathwatch, who still had their backs turned to the citadel. At the same time, Ahsoka stopped running, and rushed her pursuers. Between the rear fire from the citadel, and the talented Jedi attacking from the front, the remaining Deathwatch guards were made quick work of. Ahsoka quickly made her way up onto the rooftop to meet her companions who were patiently waiting there.

"You ready?" Ahsoka quickly asked her squad. They all nodded in response, and Ahsoka drew her lightsabres, plunging one into the roof she was standing on, on either side of her body. With a quick twist, the ground she was standing on fell down and she fell through the hole she had crated, using the force to soften her landing. The rest of her team followed swiftly behind, jetpacking down into the hallway that they had come out in. The tall roof and large pillars running down the side of the hallway reminded Ahsoka of her time in the Jedi temple, chasing after her master to go on some crazy adventure. Ahsoka knew that around the corner ahead of her was the entrance way, where the majority of the Deathwatch force was positioned, holding off Captain Rex and his clones, unaware that Ahsoka and her contingent of freedom fighters had just entered from behind. Ahsoka silently instructed her followers to accompany her around the corner, and set up with their guns pointed right at the unaware guards, who were still occupied fighting off the clone advancement. From their position, they could see the ground of the entrance way was covered in fallen Deathwatch members, as was the ground outside by 501st clone troopers.

"Put your weapons down we have you surrounded" yelled Ahsoka over the commotion of the skirmish that was occurring by the citadel entrance. The shooting suddenly stopped as the guards turned around to see where the voice had come from. The Deathwatch fighters knew they were defeated, but it was not in their philosophy to surrender, or to go down without a fight. One member, who looked to be commanding the entrance guards, looked Ahsoka dead in the face, and under his helmet, his eyes narrowed with a steely determination.

"If it's a fight you want, come and get it" He yelled quickly drawing his blaster and firing three shots off in Ahsoka's direction, one hitting one of the rebels to her side, whilst the other two were swiftly deflected by Ahsoka back at the man who fired them. With this the fighting resumed. But once again, with the Deathwatch fighting a war on two fronts they were being quickly overrun. The guards' leader rolled to the side and dodged the reflected blaster shots with ease. Knowing that any attempt he made at the Jedi with a blaster would simply be deflected, he tossed his blaster aside and drew his dark bladed beskard, a weapon only used by the Mandalorian captains.

"Alright, let's make this a fair fight" Ahsoka said with a smirk, sheathing the green lightsabre she was holding in her left hand, and with her yellow blade drawn, ran at her opponent. The captain sprinted towards the Togruta weapon drawn, and as soon as she was within his range, he swung with a big wide sweeping motion. Seemingly at the last possible second Ahsoka hit the deck, sliding under the captain's blade, and sticking out her own, disabling the Mandalorian at his feet. Screaming out in pain, the captain fell to the floor, legs cut off at the ankles.

"You think that's enough to stop me?" He screamed in anger at his young opponent using his jetpack to hover just off the ground.

"I was hoping it wasn't. Otherwise I might get bored." Ahsoka replied cheekily, living up to her nickname 'snips' that Anakin had given her. The reply was enough to send the Mandalorian captain into a full-blown rage. Thrusting towards Ahsoka as fast as he could, swinging his blade with all his might. Black clashed ferociously against yellow as his beskard hit Ahsoka's lightsabre. First up by Ahsoka's face, then down low by her legs, as the Deathwatch captain tried everything he could to break her defence. But her gift of speed and prowess with a lightsabre was proving too much. With a flick of her wrist, Ahsoka used the force to push the captain off balance and used the opening in his attack to take a swing of her own. The captain managed to thrust away just in time to avoid serious harm from Ahsoka's blade, just catching a scratch along the side of his torso. He flew up as far as he could, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to defeat the Jedi with the wounds he had suffered, he spun, and nosedived towards her at full speed, blade extended out in front of him. All it took was a precise wave of her hand, for Ahsoka to send her adversary flying in a different direction, still with enough momentum to impale one of his own men, before he himself lay flat on the ground, unmoving. By now the clones had advanced up to her position and captured the citadel. All that was left now was to find Darth Maul, and force his surrender.

"Remember all that talk about Maul's brother, it's only speculation. We won't know what we're up against until we enter that throne room. For all we know both Maul and Opress are holed up in there, just waiting for us to strike". Captain Rex reminded the young Jedi he had worked with so many times throughout the clone wars.

"I know" Ahsoka replied dismissively, secretly grateful to know that the man watching her back was still on top of his game. They headed off down the hallway together, careful to check every nook and cranny in case of an ambush, followed closely by around 50 clone troopers and about half as many Mandalorians. The entrance to the throne room was just up ahead, with the door sealed shut.

"Can you crack the lock?" Rex asked one of the clone technicians following behind him.

"Easily sir" He replied, taking a knee and hooking up his decoder. After a few short seconds the lock was cracked and the door slid open, revealing a large open room with a table in the middle, a tall man with his back turned to the republic army that had just broken in, and a large figure lying on top of the table.

"You did this" Darth Maul spoke, his back still turned to the clones. His voice was barely audible, but every republic fighter in the room filled with fear.

"All of you. The Republic who serve their beloved chancellor. You're all puppets, he's playing you all" His voice was growing louder and louder until he was almost yelling.

"We didn't kill your brother, but you need to stop taking out your anger on the people of Mandalore" Ahsoka said, in the hope that perhaps, Darth Maul would change his ways, and surrender himself.

"You don't have the right to talk about my brother, all you ever wanted was to see him dead by your own blade!" And with that the Sith extended his hand behind him, sending Ahsoka's reinforcements flying back through the door that they had just entered through, and collapsed the roof behind them. Only Ahsoka and Rex managed to hold their ground inside the throne room.

"This isn't good" noted Rex as Dart Maul turned to face them.

"You will pay for the acts your chancellor has committed!" Roared Maul as he took his lightsabre from his belt, igniting both ends simultaneously.

"I think you might need this" warned Ahsoka, tossing her spare lightsabre to Rex, who although untrained in the Jedi arts, had watched General Skywalker enough times to know how to handle a Jedi's signature weapon. Both of them stood side by side, waiting for Maul to make the first move. And he did. Leaping towards them with his sabre at the ready, he closed the gap in less than second, but switch direction just before impact and got around beside Rex, using the captain to block Ahsoka out of the fight, and lashed out at him with one of his blades. Rex moved his blade just in time to block Maul's red sabre, causing sparks flying into the air of the poorly moonlit room. Although not force sensitive, Rex's senses and reflexes were finally tuned, and considered close to equal to that of a Jedi. But Maul's hatred was intense, using brute strength he was forcing Rex's own blade up against his throat. Captain Rex knew when he was bested and kicked out at the Darth Maul's stomach in order to create enough space to escape. However, the Sith merely let out a grunt, seemingly unfazed by the clone captain's attack. During this time Ahsoka had worked her way past Rex and to the rear of Maul. She stabbed forward with her lightsabre, but was easily blocked by Maul, who swivelled his lightsabre around his body to block her attack with the other end of his weapon. However, in doing so, he had freed up just enough room for Rex to duck out from the contest that he was locked in and take another swing at the Sith, this time swinging his blade around to attack Maul's unarmed hand. Maul kicked back at Ahsoka, sending her skidding back across the floor and swung his lightsabre back around into a vertical position, blocking Rex's horizontal attack. He then quickly tilted his sabre, bringing the bottom blade up towards Rex, and cutting a slice into his armour. However, in doing this, he had allowed Rex's blade to get dangerously close to his head, so he used the force to push Rex back, before he had the chance for his bottom blade to cut deep enough into Rex's leg to cause serious damage. Rex went flying back and crashed into one of the giant pillars supporting the throne rooms ceiling. Maul turned his attention to Ahsoka who had now regained her composure and was coming right for him. Jumping from side to side, Ahsoka was making it as difficult for Maul to focus on her as possible. When she was about three meters away she used her hand not holding the lightsabre to send a ripple of force towards Darth Maul, causing him to stumble. She took the opportunity to launch herself at him, but Maul was ready. Using the force, he caught the young Togruta in mid-air and sent her flying back up towards the roof. His strength with the force far greater than his Jedi counterpart's. Rex, who had worked his way back to Maul was ready for another attack. Limping over to Maul, Rex swung his lightsabre around, tuning his feel for the blade, and the gripped it with both hands and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the unsuspecting Sith, who was still concentrating on Ahsoka. Just before Rex made contact Maul noticed, and spun around to block. But for the first time since the fight began, Maul was on the back foot. Rex was gaining momentum, although each strike was being blocked, Maul was being pushed back the trooper's aggression and power. First, he struck from above, over his head and down on his opponent, followed by a sweeping left swing and the same from the right, swinging left and right, working his way up and down Maul's body, searching for a break in his defence. Maul was caught off guard. He had not expected a clone to be able to wield a lightsabre with such power, such aggression and such skill. His blows were more precise, and faster than those of some Jedi that Maul had come across before. He could see why the legendary Anakin Skywalker liked him so much. For a clone, Maul almost respected Rex. Rex was forcing Maul back towards the area that he collapsed earlier. But Maul had other ideas. With a sudden flip, Darth Maul leapt over Rex and started attacking him from the other side, forcing the clone onto the back foot. But Rex had accomplished his goal, he had bought enough time for Ahsoka to re-join the fight. Now Maul was fighting on each side, using each end of his lightsabre to block attacks from both sides. He was becoming exhausted fighting two warriors at once and needed a way to turn the advantage back his way. His focus waned for a split second as he looked for a way to turn the tide of the fight, and Ahsoka took her chance. Slicing an arc right towards Darth Maul, whose concentration returned just in time to jump out of the way, but Ahsoka's lightsabre still managed to hit his sabre, rendering it useless. Knowing that this was a fight that Maul could not win unarmed, he pulled back his arms and then thrust them forward, unleashing a massive force push sending both Ahsoka and Rex crashing along the ground to the other side of the room, and collapsing two of the 12 pillars supporting the roof, causing it to cave in, and create a large enough hole for him to escape through. With one last look at the dazed Jedi and clone captain, Darth Maul leaped out into the night.

"Well, I guess he's no longer going to be ruling this planet. Thanks for this by the way, it saved my life back there, but I think I'll be sticking with my trusty side arms for now" Rex said as he gave Ahsoka a hand up and handed her back her lightsabre.

"Thanks, but we could've taken them" Ahsoka grinned back at his good friend. And at that moment Rex's commlink blinked.

"Execute order 66" came a crackled voice from the other side.

"It will be done my lord" replied Rex, calmly into his mouthpiece.


	3. Escape From Mandalore

**Escape from Mandalore**

Something felt wrong, ever since Rex answered his commlink a couple seconds earlier. Ahsoka could feel it There was a loud bang as an explosive went off. Dust filled the air as the rest of the clone troopers, entered the Mandalorian Throne Room. There was a blast from Rex's pistol, illuminating the room in a flash, and then a thud as Ahsoka's motionless body hit the floor.

"We're done here" said Rex to his clone brethren.

"Are you certain she's dead" asked one of the clones under his command.

"100%, now let's get out of here before Darth Maul returns, he's no longer our target, and I bet there are some Jedi out there just waiting to feel the wrath of the 501st. Now move out soldiers!" Ordered Rex as a collective

"Hoorah" arose from the crowd of clones that had just entered the citadel's throne room.

The clones turned around and filed out of the room. Rex took one last glance back at Ahsoka, the Jedi who he had served under for so long, and grown so close to, lying there, motionless next to the deceased body of Savage Opress, and then followed his men out of the building. It was a silent walk back to the transport ship. All the clones knew what needed to be done, for them to meet up with the rest of the 501st and storm the Jedi temple. None of the soldiers of the 501st hated the Jedi, they had received nothing but respect from their Jedi commanders, except for General Krell of course. Because of this they didn't like what they had been ordered to do, but good soldiers follow orders, and that was what they were doing. Following orders. Each squad boarded their respective LAATs, ready to fly them back up to the transport's waiting in orbit. Only the pilot and one other clone trooper had survived the siege if the citadel from Rex's ride back up to orbit, leaving him almost alone to dwell on what he had just done. Ahsoka had been his friend, she had saved his life on countless occasions, even if it meant likely death for herself. But good soldiers followed orders. Rex made sure that his ship was the last off the ground, no man was ever left behind in the 501st, Rex always made sure of that.

"Alright, let's take her up" Rex ordered after the last ship was airborne.

"Aye aye, captain" The pilot replied as he brought the bird up, spiinig it a half rotation so that it was the facing the transport. It began to accelerate up to the ship in orbit, just as it reached maximum velocity a loud bang come from the back of the craft.

"We're going down" yelled the pilot over the noise of various alerts and sirens in the cockpit, "brace for impact". The LAAT begin falling quickly towards the planet surface, leaving a plume of smopke trailing behind it. Within seconds, the gunship had smashed into the surface of Mandalore, and was engulfed in a fiery explosion.

"the Captain's ship is down, we're going to look for survivors" the pilot of the ship that was second to last to leave the citadel over the radio. The gunship circled around had headed down to Rex's crashed ship. All that was left was a burning wreckage, with no chance that anyone could have survived.

"It's hopeless, let's get out of here" the pilot said to his crew in defeat, and spun the LAAT back around for the last time and headed back up to the transport in preparation for their trip back to Coruscant.

From behind a tree, about a kilometre out from the wreckage stood Captain Rex, waiting for the final gunship that was searching for survivors of his own crash, headed back up to the ship. Once they left, Rex lit up a flare and waited for his ally.

"What was that about" Ahsoka asked once she reached Rex, "why did you pretend to kill me?".

"You might want to take a seat for this one" Rex sighed, "A while back we had a rogue clone in our battalion, you remember Tups, right? Well basically, out of nowhere, he shot and killed a Jedi knight, but once we apprehended him he was back to normal, and showing absolute remorse at what he had done, saying that something in his head had made him do it. So Fives ran away and investigated what was going on. He managed to find out that all of us clones were born, _created,_ with these chips in our heads. Before he was able to discover the meaning of these chips, however, and whether they were connected to his actions, he was killed after he tried to take the life of chancellor Palpatine. To be safe, Wolffe, Gregor, and I all removed our chips, just in case they were connected to the Jedi's murder, but the chips were kept secret from the rest of the clones to prevent hysteria. I had started to forget about the incident, but when the chancellor contacted me directly with an directive to execute order 66, I remembered what that used to mean to me. And, well, I figured out that's what the chips must have been there for, to make sure we carried out our most questionable order; to wipe out the Jedi. I knew all my men still had their chips in their brains, so I had to fake your death, and my own too, which is why I got you to sneak out the back and sabotage my LAAT while I slowly walked my troopers back out the way we came in. But it seems like it's just you and me now, I don't know who we can trust, except for Gregor, and Wolffe. And there's something you must know Ahsoka, for some reason, I'm not sure why, but this order excludes the killing of General Skywalker, I fear it might be because he is in league with the chancellor, we cannot trust him".

"If Anakin is a part of this then it's all my fault. If I had just stayed with him at the Jedi Order, instead of abandoning him when he needed me most he would have never turned to the dark side. I know it". Ahsoka replied, tears of guilt welling up in her eyes.

"You can't blame yourself Ahsoka. He made this decision, all we can do is figure out a way to try and make this right. We need to find a way to get the clones back on our side, I f I go to Kamino, I believe somewhere there, I will be able to find a way to hack into these chips and find a way to switch them off. But I can't do this alone. I'll need your help Ahsoka."

"I'm sorry Rex but I can't do anything until I know for sure how my master is involved. I need to make contact with the surviving Jedi, find out who is left."

"I understand that. But the longer we spend not shutting down those chips, the more likely it is that they might have some sort of permanent effect on the clone's brains. My brothers' brains. And I can't break into Kamino alone"

"You said Wolffe and Gregor had removed their chips, if you track them down, they could help you in your mission. But I need to see who's left, and confront Anakin… I can't abandon him again" Ahsoka's mind was made up, she was going to confront her master with or without Rex. Rex conceded

"Sounds like a plan, but first we need to get off this planet. I'm sure one of the Mandalorian's who helped liberate this planet will have a ship they don't mind us using". Ahsoka agreed, and together they set out in search of a ship. It wasn't long before they had acquired a ship, free of charge, from a Mandalorian who was grateful for the Republic's help in freeing them from the rule of Darth Maul. With a few flicks of some buttons, Ahsoka had taken off and began her journey off the blue planet. The ship they were in was a high end private transport ship, with individual rooms for up to a dozen passengers, and a central living room where the passengers could eat and play games if they felt the need to. With the clone army believing that Rex and Ahsoka were dead, they were free to openly transmit, as the Republic would not be scanning their sector of space, for a long time. Ahsoka still remembered some of the Jedi emergency frequency and began to search through them, hoping find a distress call or glimmer of hope. She was about to give up when a familiar voice came through the transceiver,

"Emergency code 913, I have no contact on any frequencies".

Ahsoka knew that voice well, it was Obi Wan, one of her best friends at the Jedi Order, and a commander she had served under many times.

"Obi Wan! It's me, Ahsoka! Do you copy? Please respond" Ahsoka tried to send her message through to the Jedi master but something was blocking her signal. And then came through another transmission, from a senator who she recognised as a friend of Padme's.

"Master Kenobi"

"Senator Organa, my clone troops turned on my, I need help" Obi Wan informed the senator.

Ahsoka couldn't figure out why her transmission wasn't getting through, it seemed like her transmitter was too weak to cope with the multiple transmitters that were already involved in Obi Wan and Organa's conversation.

"We have just rescued master Yoda, it appears this has happened everywhere" Organa voice came through again.

"We're sending you our..." Organa was cut off by the noise of an explosion.

"Senator! Senator do you copy"

"Get as far… do not go to the co-ordinates we just sent… no matter what… don't let them track this transmi… Aaaaarggh!" yelled the senator into his transmitter, as he began to break up.

"Senator!"

A light blinked on the dashboard in front of Ahsoka as the senator's transmission was prematurely cut off. Despite the tragic events that had just unfolded over audio to her, she knew she had no time to mourn, she had to make a connection with Obi Wan before she lost him. She tried again to get through. There was a long pause but eventually Kenobi's voice came through the other end.

"Master Kenobi"

"Master, you have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice" Said Ahsoka, overwhelmed with joy that she had managed to make contact with the one man in the galaxy that gave her hope that perhaps there was still a chance.

"Ahsoka! Is that you" said Obi Wan, unable to believe what he was seeing. "So, I see you managed to defeat Darth Maul… Or at least escape him. Do you have any clue what is going on?"

"Unfortunately, I do master. Long story short; The clones have a chip in their brains that when activated, makes them turn on the Jedi on the chancellor's command"

"That's horrific, where are you now? We should meet up so that we can figure out what our response is"

"I agree. But Master there's something else" Ahsoka paused as she thought about what she was going to say "I think Master Skywalker has something to do with this as well. I fear he may have turned to the dark side, and may be helping Palpatine to destroy the Jedi."

Obi Wan stroked his beard, deep in thought.

"Alright" he finally said "wait where you are and I will be with you soon, but be on alert, don't trust anyone". And with that the transmission ended. Ahsoka stood up out of her chair and left the cockpit to return to Rex.

"Any luck reaching the other troopers?" asked Ahsoka.

"I got through to Gregor, but he's stuck with Cody and the 212th, he said it will be difficult for him to escape without being branded a traitor. He can't just fake his death like I did. He also said that there is a chance that General Kenobi is still alive. He said that he convinced Cody to leave without finding the Jedi's body, and knowing Kenobi, that almost definitely means he's alive. As for Wolffe, I haven't been able to get hold of him yet, but I'm still trying. How did things go on your end?"

"I made contact with Obi Wan, he'll be here shortly and then we'll figure out where to go from there". Ahsoka said and then sat down on one of the chairs in the living space on board their new ship. A long sigh escaped her lips, she was exhausted. Between the siege on the citadel, fighting Darth Maul, faking her own death and finding out about Palpatine's evil plot, it had been a long day. The moment she sat down she fell asleep. Rex sat there for a little while longer trying to contact Wolffe, without any luck. He looked at the sleeping Togruta, unable to believe the events that had just unfolded. He was now hiding away from the one thing in the galaxy he thought he could always trust. His brothers. And now here he was, alone with a Jedi defector, drifting through space with no idea of what to do next. All he knew was that he needed to find a way to get those chips turned off, and bring his brothers back to the light. However, it wasn't long before the hardened trooper drifted off to sleep too.

Rex was woken by a thud, as a starfighter docked in the vessel's docking bay. He knew that it was most likely Obi Wan, but he didn't want to take any chances, and backed up against the wall so that he could spring an ambush if it was a hostile boarding party. He waited with his blasters drawn. Finally, a foot stepped through the doorway, followed by the body of Jedi master Obi Wan Kenobi. Kenobi entered the room and gave it a quick scan and saw Ahsoka Tano slumped in her chair. He drew his lightsabre and spun around, prepared for an ambush. He was greeted by Captain Rex with his blasters drawn. His eyes narrowed and he prepared to take a swing at the traitorous clone trooper. It was one thing to betray a fully-grown Jedi commander, but Ahsoka was only a padawan, still in her teens, and she had trusted Rex.

"Wait!" Yelled Rex, realising what Obi Wan was thinking "I haven't killed her! She's only asleep" Kenobi hesitated, unsure whether to believe the clone.

"If you're lying I'll kill you" warned Obi Wan as he moved over to Ahsoka, never taking his eyes off the clone captain. He placed two fingers to the Togruta's neck and felt a pulse beating.

"I removed my chip, along with Wolffe and Gregor after Fives tried to assassinate the chancellor. Oh, how I wish his attempt hadn't been stopped now"

"I'm sorry to startle you like that then old friend, it's just that I don't know who to trust anymore". Kenobi apologised, as he knelt down to lightly shake Ahsoka awake. A smile formed on Ahsoka's lips when she saw who it was and she jumped up to give the Jedi master a hug.

"Good to see this situation hasn't let you get your spirit down, young one". Kenobi greeted Ahsoka, happy to be back with the young padawan.

"We've been through worse" Ahsoka replied in a futile attempt to boost the morale of the ship.

"I'm afraid not, now can you tell me why you think Anakin is involved"

"I can sir" Rex interrupted "The directive that was ordered of us excluded General Skywalker from our hitlist, making him the only Jedi who isn't targeted by order 66. That, combined with the increasing amount of time that he has been spending with the chancellor has got me fearing that he may have turned to the dark side. What's more is that the entire 501st has been ordered back to Coruscant for a top-secret mission, to be led by a 'Darth Vader', one can only assume that it's to storm the Jedi Temple. And this 'Darth Vader', is General Skywalker's new title."

"You may well be right, I have sensed much darkness in him, but he has always done the right thing in the end. I believe that if we can get to him, we can convince him to return to the light. We need to reach the Jedi temple before he gets there. Before he can do anything that he will regret."

"Unlikely sir, the troop transports left a long time ago, chances re they're already being briefed on their mission as we speak."

"Then we had better get going."

"Aye aye, sir" Ahsoka said, apprehensive if the mission lying ahead of them. She went through into the cockpit and Kenobi followed. The trip through hyperspace would be a good chance for Obi Wan and Ahsoka to do some much needed catching up together. The whole way back Ahsoka and Kenobi discussed what had just happened, they each survived, whether Anakin really could be Darth Vader, and how they could try and put things right. Roughly an hour before they were due to arrive in Coruscant, Rex joined them in the cockpit.

"I just got a transmission from Gregor, apparently, Cody has been taken in by Chancellor Palpatine, who is now calling himself the first Emperor of the Galactic Empire, for questioning about the events on Utapau, and the rest of the 212th are now on indefinite leave from duty. I told him about my plan to go to Kamino, and he's agreed to join me. So, my question to you is, do you need me to help with Anakin, or can I pursue the freedom of my brothers?"

"No, we'll handle Anakin" replied Obi Wan "you go and do whatever you need to do on Kamino. But first, I want you to fly us directly over the Jedi temple, low altitude preferably. There's too many faces at the spaceport, Ahsoka and I will most certainly be spotted. Once you've landed, I hope you and Gregor find whatever you're looking for on Kamino". It dawned on all three of them that it was quite possible they would never see each other again. The odds were stacked against them. The Emperor had thousands of clone troopers at his disposal, and unrivalled power in the force. If they were to succeed in their respective missions, the force would need to be on their side. The ship they were on came out of hyperspace and Rex began his descent towards the spaceport, plotting a course that would bring them right over the Jedi temple. Ahsoka and Obi Wan made their way to the door. Rex accompanied them for a final farewell.

"Good luck out there, Rex" Ahsoka smiled up at her long-time friend and mentor "I look forward to hearing all about your mission" she added cheekily. Rex nodded back, unable to muster any words as the gravity of their farewell came crushing down on him. The door slid open behind the two Jedi, to reveal the cityscape rushing past underneath their feet like a flooded river. The sound of air rushing past was tremendous, Obi Wan had to shout to get his voice heard.

"It's been an honour serving with you Captain, may the force be with you"

"The honour's been all mine sir, give 'em hell". And with that the Jedi turned around and leapt out of the craft, that was still hurtling towards the spaceport.


	4. Coruscant Spaceport

**Coruscant Spaceport**

Rex's ship touched down in the spaceport about ten minutes after the two Jedi had jumped out. Going through customs had been quick and painless. As a clone trooper, it never took long getting through customs, and the spaceport wasn't very busy at the moment. Rex picked up the few possessions he had with him and left the ship. He gave Gregor a call.

The commando was on his way to the spaceport and they agreed to meet on the ground floor. Walking through the large corridors and foyers of the spaceport, things seemed eerily quiet. Normally at any given moment, the spaceport would be alive with the commotion of commercial transport and passenger flights constantly coming and going, and the halls would be flooded with people trying to get on their flight, or new arrivals to the planet. Before he had landed, Rex had decided that he would keep a low profile. The clones thought he was dead, and therefore so did the Emperor. He decided it was best if it stayed that way.

He had changed out of his usual personalised combat suit, and into a clean pair of civilian clothes he had found on board the ship. Faded blue jeans and a grey hoodie, a colour combo he was more than familiar with. He carried his armour and blasters in a duffle bag in his left hand, and had a backpack full of ammunition, supplies and other bits and pieces that could come in handy on Kamino. Rex hated being in civilian clothing, this was one of the very few times he had felt the urge to wear them, and he felt vulnerable without his armour on. Walking out onto a balcony that overlooked the entrance plaza, he looked down to see if he could spot Gregor.

Sure enough, he saw the clone commando standing in his yellow tinted armour, covered in tally marks; one for every high ranked clanker he had ever put out of service. Due to what was now the Empire knowing he had survived and returned to Coruscant, there was no reason for him to don civilian clothing. Rex made his way to the elevator and descended the two storeys separating him from Gregor.

"Rex, it's good to see you" Gregor said, patting his friend on the back and walking him over to a bench to sit on.

"You too mate. A brother I can actually talk to rather than hide from is a rare thing to come by at the moment".

"I know what you mean. It's strange in the camp, everyone is acting so normal. It's like nothing has even happened. Until you mention a Jedi. Then everyone gets this look on their face, like they lose all emotion except for hate. Whatever those chips have done, our brothers need us to undo it."

"I'm glad we see eye to eye on this. We're not doing this for ourselves, we're doing it for our family. You'll be pleased to hear that I've seen Obi Wan. I dropped him and Ahsoka off at the temple on my way here. They're going to try and see if anyone has survived. I'm assuming my legion has been and gone by now?"

"Yeah for the most part. There's a few guards left but nothing Obi Wan can't manage. It was strange though. They raided it in the middle of the night, like they didn't want anyone to know, and I could've sworn they were being led by a Jedi"

"I fear Anakin has joined the Emperor. Oh well, we have our own mission. How are we getting to Kamino, we need something with a hyperdrive, but weapons as well in case things get hairy. And not too big either, any ideas?"

"I know just the ship. The Emperor is holding a special session in congress, to formalise the creation of the new Empire, that's why this place is so deserted, everyone is waiting outside the senate building to hear all about it. As soon as that's over he's planning to head off world somewhere. I don't know what for. But that's not important. What is important, is that this means he has a shuttle fuelled and ready for take off here in the spaceport."

"If it means inconveniencing Palpatine at the same time, then this ship really is perfect" Rex smiled at Gregor's plan. The two clones stood up together.

"You take the lead Gregor"

"Alright, follow me then. It's on the top floor, my bet would be that it's surrounded by guards, hopefully my rank is enough to get us through, with you as my prisoner. But if not, be ready for a fight." Gregor said as he slipped a pair of handcuffs around Rex's wrists.

Together they stepped in the lift and started heading up. The elevator ascended up to the second to last floor until it stopped. The doors slid open to reveal two senatorial guards, clad in their traditional cobalt armour, pointing blasters at the clones' chest.

"Halt, top two floors are closed today. Turn around right now and leave" ordered the guard in the middle.

"I've got orders to deliver this prisoner to the Imperial shuttle." Gregor flashed his ID to the guards and took a step forward out of the confined elevator and into the room the guards were standing in, pushing Rex in front him.

"If you take another step I will shoot!" Yelled the same guard. Gregor stopped moving. "What does the emperor want with this prisoner?"

"He wouldn't tell me sir, just that he wanted him tied up and in his shuttle. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take him there now."

"I don't think so _clone_. We'll take it from here. Ben, Jameson, frisk the prisoner" The guard commanded the men on either side of him. "You'll be on your way now" he continued, beckoning with his gun for Gregor to step back inside the elevator.

"Alright, alright." Replied Gregor. He turned around and took one step inside the elevator. Then, grabbing a knife from his belt he spun back around and with the so much speed that the guard didn't even have time to make a noise, he plunged his knife into the guard's throat, and held his body up, so that no one would hear the body hitting the ground. The other two guards, who were still frisking Rex, met a similar fate as Rex whipped around and pulled his cuffs tightly around the guard on his right's neck, strangling him to the floor. At the same time, Gregor had removed his knife from the first guard's windpipe and stuck it through the final guards back with precision, puncturing his lungs, and twisting to increase the hole. All that could be heard from the whole commotion was a hiss as the air escaped out the side of the last guard's body, where his lungs had been punctured. Gregor undid Rex's handcuffs and together, they carried the guard's bodies into the elevator. Together, the two of them headed off to the stairwell. The spaceport used a wide spiral staircase, with a waterfall running down the middle of it. Normally it was only used in emergencies or if the lifts were being worked on, but every now and again people would decide to use it if they didn't want to wait for a lift or wanted a bit of exercise. Rex and Gregor reached door that was leads into the stairwell and stopped.

"There will be guards waiting on the other side, in case anyone tried to go up the stairs. The second they see us come the door without a guard escort, they'll know we're hostile" Gregor whispered to Rex.

"I've got an idea" Rex said, dashing back off to the elevator. He returned a minute later in the senatorial uniform. "I'll go in first and go down past them, then I'll get their attention so you can slip on past. Once you're through, I'll follow you up".

"Sounds like a plan"

Rex pushed open the door and nodded to the guard's, who were surprised to see anyone coming through that door, but quickly returned to their duties of making sure no one came up the stairs. Rex walked down the stairs, around the curve to the point where he was almost out of sight of the guards, and then stopped.

"Is this supposed to be here?" Rex called out to the guards above him. They looked at each other before coming down to take a look at whatever Rex was pointing at. Gregor seized the opportunity and snuck out through the door and up the stairs, until he was safely far enough around that the waterfall would block the guards' view of him once they returned to their post.

"Don't worry actually. I just got confused, I'm meant to be going up, not down". Rex said as the guards got closer. "sorry about that". Rex spun around and headed back up the stairs to meet up with Gregor.

"There's bound to be more guards at the entrance to the top floor, and I don't think that ploy will work twice".

"Then I guess we only have one choice don't we" Rex said with a smirk as he unclipped his pistols from his belt. Gregor looked at his good friend in agreement, and readied his own pistols.

"Remember, we do this silently, and we won't get caught" Gregor reminded Rex before leading the charge up the stairs. The only way they could be silent is if they were quick and efficient. Gregor took the lead and charged around the corner and slammed into the guard furthest away from where the clones came from, before any of the guards even saw him coming. He jammed one of his pistols into the guard's exposed skin round his neck, using the contact of the pistol on the guard to muffle the sound of his blaster shot. The other two guards whipped around to aim at the clone commando. But as they did this Rex came running up behind them and slammed one pistol into each of their necks, using the same method as Gregor to muffle the sound of the blaster fire.

"Too easy" commented Rex, dusting himself off and pushing open the door to the top floor landing bay. Right in front of them was the Imperial shuttle. And on board were six highly trained security clones, part of the Emperor's personal guard. They were all sitting on the benches that lined the inner walls of the shuttle, three on each bench. Rex and Gregor knew that they were close enough to fleeing the city now, it didn't matter if these guards alerted anyone else, because by then, Gregor and Rex would be long gone. Rex gave the nod, and together, the two clones opened fire. In a flurry of blaster shots, the six guards inside the shuttle were dead, unaware of who their assailants even were. Rex and Gregor boarded the ship in a hurry, their blaster shots were sure to alert the remaining guards posted around the building, and reinforcements would be arriving any minute. Gregor slammed the button closing the shuttle doors, whilst Rex made his way to the cockpit. Being on the top floor meant that it would be an easy take off. Rex lifted the shuttle off the ground and folded in the landing gear. Just as he started to ascend, the whole shuttle shook to the left. Rex quickly steadied it back up, but it was hit again, this time shaking more violently.

"Gregor! Sort out that AA gun!" Rex yelled.

"This shuttle isn't equipped with any weaponry! We don't have anything big enough to take it out!" Gregor yelled back, looking around for a weapon capable of taking out an AA gun.

"When has that ever stopped you" Replied Rex, struggling to stop the lopsided shuttle from tipping over under the heavy starboard fire it was receiving.

Gregor opened the shuttle door again, and instantly came under heavy fire from some ground troops that were waiting underneath them. He tossed out a grenade and pressed himself up against the back of the shuttle, taking cover from the fire he was receiving. The grenade exploded, and he used the chaos to poke out from his cover and fire off a couple of rounds, systematically taking out the guards on the ground before turning his attention to the AA gun.

It was the same type of AA turret that the LAATs used, but on a larger scale. It was a large clear dome on top of the Spaceport's spire, that swivelled around and was capable of firing in any direction, and could adjust its aim with speed, making it ideal for taking out moving targets. Another green beam left its cannon, slamming into the side of the shuttle again, causing Gregor to slip and fall. He slid back into the wall and quickly rose back onto his feet, grabbing the control panel for support. He eyed up his target. A well-placed shot to the base of the cannon would cause the ball to lose any function in the pivot point, leaving it firing in the same spot. Gregor eyed up his shot. Another beam slammed into the side of the shuttle, rocking it even more. The Emperor's personal shuttle was strong, one of the most shielded ships in the whole republic fleet, but Gregor knew it wouldn't be long until the AA gun penetrated the shield, and ripped a hole in the side of the ship, making space flight impossible. But still Gregor remained calm. He took a deep breath, waited for the ship to stabilize and pulled the trigger.

A singular bolt of energy left the nozzle of his pistol and flew towards the cannon. The shot was perfect. It burned a hole in the hinge that allowed the turret to spin around, rendering it useless against moving targets. Now that the shuttle was free of the anti-air fire, Rex could take his time to plot a course through hyperspace.

About thirty seconds later the shuttle was leaving Coruscant, and heading straight towards the clone home world; Kamino.


	5. The Jedi Temple

**The Jedi Temple**

Wind rushed through the two Jedi's hair as the ground came rushing up to greet them. Using the force to slow themselves down before impact was something that both of them were used to. There had been countless situations throughout the course of the war that had required such a manoeuvre. Whether it was jumping out of a ship, as they had just done, or falling off a ledge, both Ahsoka and Obi Wan had used the force to survive great drops countless times. They landed together and looked up to see Rex's ship flying off towards the spaceport. The two Jedi had landed on the roof of the lower section, overlooking the Eastern landing pad. From where they were, the only way into the temple was to drop down onto the landing pad about a few meters below them, and walk through the entranceway there. Obi Wan stuck peered over the side, sticking out his arm to tell Ahsoka to stay back from the edge. Congregated around the entranceway were a number of people dressed in Jedi robes, however, from Kenobi's birds-eye-view, he could see that they had a blaster strapped to their belts.

"It would seem we are too late; the clones have already taken over the temple. There's five of them disguised as Jedi guarding the entranceway." Obi Wan informed Ahsoka.

"If there are clones here, then there's a good chance that master Skywalker is here too."

"I agree, you ready to drop down?"

"I sure am" smiled Ahsoka. Obi Wan held up three fingers and dropped them one by one until his hand was in a fist. As his fist formed, he dropped down in to the side of the crowd of clones guarding the entrance. Ahsoka landed synchronised on the other side of them and drew her two lightsabres. With a swift thrust of her arms upwards, she sliced through the robes of two of the Jedi imposters before they had time to draw their weapons. Obi Wan drew his own lightsabre and decapitated one clone whilst using the force to smash another against one of the pillars that lined the walls of the Jedi Temple. The final clone had drawn his blaster and aimed it at the younger of his two lightsabre wielding opponents, firing off two rounds before Obi Wan's blue blade impaled his chest and left him to crumple onto the ground. Seeing these clones posing as Jedi had been the final confirmation that the clones truly had betrayed the Jedi order. This betrayal hurt Obi Wan dearly. Although he would not let the hatred and anger that he now felt for these clones drag him to the dark side of the force, he was certainly not going to show any remorse or hesitate for a second to unleash his full power on these traitors. Traitors that he had witnessed so many of his own brothers and sisters in the Jedi order die for. With their weapons still drawn the two Jedi walked into the temple. They were sure that the clones would have an ambush prepared for any Jedi foolish enough to return to the temple. Through the grand entranceway was a large room, the red carpet that ran along the floor was littered with bodies; clone and Jedi alike. Clearly a battle of epic proportions had taken place in this room, and throughout the entire building. Recently by the looks of things. There was still smoke in the air from the blaster fire, and the smell of burnt flesh was unmistakeably hanging in the air.

"I can't believe this has actually happened" murmured Ahsoka, shocked by what she was seeing in front of her. "How could anyone do this"

"I don't understand it either" Said Kenobi shaking his head in despair. Surely Anakin had not been involved in this brutal raid. The duo walked together through the temple, stepping over the bodies of their fallen comrades. As they made their way through the temple, in search of their old friend Anakin their emotions were out of control. Each Jedi body they walked past was a body of friend, student, training partner, teacher or hero. With the sight of each new body came another load on the now broken hearts of the two Jedi. From sorrow, to anger, and now helplessness, the Jedi's minds were in turmoil. They made their way up the stairs. Clearly a couple of experienced Jedi had led a last stand here, in the one narrow part of the temple. There were countless clone bodies at the bottom of the stairs, and blaster marks covered the walls, but clearly the Jedi had been overrun, their bodies now lying motionless at the top of the stairs.

"These Jedi weren't murdered by clones, this is the mark of a lightsabre" Obi Wan muttered, almost silently, as thoughts raced through his mind. Ahsoka slid down the wall she was now standing next to, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.

"Just give me a minute" she whispered to Obi Wan, who took a seat next to the young Togruta, who now had her head buried in her hands. They sat in silence for what felt like forever. Neither of them able to understand what could have caused Anakin to do such horrible things. Ahsoka felt helpless. Not because she thought she would meet the same fate as the Jedi that lay just inches away from her, but because she was certain that there was no way she would ever see the friend she had left behind when she left the Jedi, ever again. That man that had taught her so much, and been so kind, so thoughtful, and so understanding, was now gone forever.

"We have to find him" She finally said, breaking the silence "It's the only way we can be sure that he is truly gone. Maybe it's not too late to save him."

Obi Wan remained silent for a couple of minutes.

"I agree, but I wouldn't get my hopes up" He eventually replied. "I'll send out a warning for the other Jedi, and then we should get out of here."

Ahsoka nodded. She followed him towards the broadcasting room. They walked in silence. Once they got to the room, Obi Wan got to work programming the warning to the remaining Jedi, making sure that the Empire wouldn't be able to reprogram it anytime soon. He had noticed that when Anakin and his troopers had raided the temple that they had programmed their own transmission, calling all surviving Jedi back to the temple. Back to an ambush. He decided that he didn't need to tell Ahsoka, she clearly had enough on her mind right now. He glanced back over at her. Once again, she was sitting on the floor with her eyes closed, propped up against the wall. He wondered if it was safe to take her with him when he goes to confront Anakin. It was a real possibility that Anakin was beyond saving, and if that was the case, then he would do what needed to be done, and he did not believe that Anakin's former apprentice would be able to handle that in her current state.

"C'mon, let's get going" Obi Wan said once he was done. Normally when the two of them were together, they wouldn't stop talking. They were both chatty people, and Obi Wan's dry sense of humour always entertained the young Ahsoka, who would try and outdo him with jokes of her own. But not today. Not after what they had just witnessed. The scenes that they had seen in the Jedi temple had clearly taken their toll on Ahsoka. Obi Wan had experienced many horrific things that had scarred him, although he would never show it, but this certainly topped the list. Not even the first-hand sight of his master being slain by Darth Maul could top what he and Ahsoka had just uncovered. The fresh air that greeted them as they stepped outside was a relief. Although they had gotten used to it over time inside the temple, the smell of death and bloodshed was not pleasant.

"Where to now?" Ahsoka asked, deflated.

"I'm not sure" replied Obi Wan "But I think Anakin is off-world, I believe I would have been able to sense him otherwise."

"The only problem is; that still leaves the entire rest of the galaxy" replied Ahsoka.

"Now that the war has fulfilled all of Palpatine's purposes, he will be wanting to put an end to it. On Utapau, I saw Grievous ordering the Viceroy and some of the other confederacy leaders to a Mustafar. My bet is that the Emperor has sent his new apprentice there to put an end to this war once and for all." Explained Obi Wan.

"Okay, but we still have to get our hands on a ship capable of getting to the Mustafar system" Ahsoka reminded the Jedi master.

"After the bombing of the Jedi temple's hangar, our fleet was moved to that warehouse there" Obi Wan said, pointing at a large warehouse, two blocks away. The duo set off in that direction.

It wasn't a long walk to the warehouse, but Obi Wan and Ahsoka were treading carefully. They likely had a bounty on their heads, set by the Emperor, so they didn't want anyone seeing them. If they were spotted, it probably wouldn't be long before a squad of clones surrounded them. Or worse.

They reached the warehouse without strife, and were greeted by a large door that could only be opened by a control panel to the side. Kenobi keyed in the password and the door began rolling up, revealing a row of what had become known as 'Jedi starfighters' throughout the war, due to their popularity amongst the Jedi. Obi Wan and Ahsoka took one each. But before they could take off the room went dark as the warehouse door slammed back down to the ground. Moments later a red hue began to encase the room as emergency lighting came on. A siren was sounding, alarming anyone nearby that there was an intruder. Obi Wan quickly jumped back out of his fighter and yelled at Ahsoka.

"Get ready to lift off! I'm going to come with you if things get hairy!" Just as the words left his mouth, the door on the side of the building swung open and a half-dozen cone troopers piled through, all wearing the signature yellow stripes of Obi Wan's 212th battalion. They raised their blasters at Obi Wan as if they were part of a firing squad, about to execute a prisoner. But before they got any shots off, Obi Wan stuck out his hands and used the force to send one of the starfighters hurling into them, crushing them like dominos.

"Cover me!" Obi Wan yelled to Ahsoka as more clones continued to pile through the narrow side doorway.

"Already on it boss" smirked Ahsoka, ready for a bit of payback for what had happened at the temple. She lifted her starfighter off the ground, and swung it around to face the stream of clones rushing on from the side. Shots began firing at the starfighter, but the clones' blasters were unable to penetrate the starfighter's shields. Ahsoka lined up her shot and squeezed the trigger, sending powerful shots rocketing into the clones' formation.

Meanwhile Obi Wan had made his way over to the entire control panel and keyed in the password. But it wasn't working. This had all been a trap. The door controls were now disabled. But that wasn't enough to stop the Jedi master. He blocked out the commotion that was going on just meters away from him and knelt down next to the panel. In his mind, he imagined the electronic lock that was stopping the door from opening. Using all his concentration, he pictured prying it open, and sure enough, the door began rolling back up.

"Now Ahsoka!" He yelled. Ahsoka let off one more salvo before turning to face the main door. The door was rolling up to reveal a row of clones, armed with anti-air rockets, and in front of them was standing Commander Cody. Rage boiled up inside Obi Wan when he saw the man he had entrusted his life in so many times, now commanding a squad that was about to kill him. Without thinking Obi Wan let out a yell and pushed his hands forward.

The resulting shockwave sent all the troopers flying through the air and crashing into the ground hundreds of meters away from where they were just standing. Ahsoka had already began flying her ship out of the main door, and passed overhead of Kenobi right after he had scattered the clones. With a simple push, Obi Wan bounded onto the starfighter. Although most of the Jedi craft were made for a pilot only, Ahsoka had picked one that had a backwards facing gunner seat as well. The new model had only entered production towards the end of the war, and were the only ship of their size to have a hyperdrive fitted into their design, Which is why they gained the nickname _Zippers._ Obi Wan climbed into the back seat while Ahsoka rapidly piloted the craft into the sky. By now a couple of the troopers had regained their feet and managed to fire off a couple of missiles. But it was too late for them. Ahsoka plotted a course, and the ship went into hyperspace leaving the missiles, and Coruscant, far behind.


	6. Night Of Solace

**Night of Solace**

Captain Rex and Gregor's ship came out of hyperspace behind Kamino's moon. As they rounded the moon and the Ocean world of Kamino came into view, so did a _Praedor_ class Star Destroyer; one of only two in the entire Republic Navy. Swarming around the gigantic ship were half a dozen _Venator_ class Star Destroyers, like bees surrounding their hive. The _Praedor_ class Star Destroyer was a top-secret project that had been initiated in the final months of the Clone Wars. The idea was to create a ship so powerful and so intimidating that the enemy would cower before it, and surrender when they found out that the Republic had a fleet of them. At almost five kilometres long, the behemoth dwarfed the surrounding Republic capital ships. Clearly, there was something that the Empire needed to protect on Kamino. Even during the height of the clone wars, when the Republic was still using Kamino to create their army, the planet wasn't this well fortified. Rex and Gregor continued slowly towards the blockade. The Emperor's personal shuttle would ensure that they weren't fired upon until they were close enough for the ships to identify them as imposters, however, as soon as that happened, they would be obliterated. They needed to come up with a plan before the blockade identified them. They could use the shuttle to get within close proximity of the blockade, potentially close enough to make cover the rest of the distance with thruster packs.

"See if there are any thrusters on board, I think I have a plan" Rex ordered Gregor, who in turn exited the cockpit and searched the shuttle.

"Umm, I don't want to ruin whatever you have planned, but there aren't any thrusters on board this whole shuttle." Gregor reported back.

"Shit" Rex uttered under his breath. But after a moment he regained composure, "All good, if there's one thing us clone troopers do well, especially in the 501st, it's improvise. Did you bring a canister of biofoam?" Rex inquired.

"Of course, I did" Gregor smiled as he caught onto what Rex was suggesting, but there was one problem "If we use the biofoam as a thruster through space, how are we going to patch up our wounds if we get hit once we're on Kamino?"

"Simple" replied Rex with a hint of madness in his eyes "We don't get hit".

"So, what's the plan then?" Asked Gregor, liking the captain's confidence.

"The second this shuttle gets within interior scanning range, it's going to be blown to pieces. So, we let them do that, only we won't be on the ship by then. We'll be thrusting right towards the blockade. Without a ship, we'll be too small for them to pick up on their senses. If we're fast enough then by the time we reach the capital ship, it's hangar doors will be open for the search party that they will send to search the wreckage. We climb in through the hangar doors and take one of the orbital drop pods down onto the planet's surface. They're the only transport fast enough to get down there without being shot down."

"What are we waiting for then?" said Gregor, sliding his commando helmet on and checking over his weapons. Rex set a course right for the capital ship and left the cockpit to retrieve his duffle bag. For the duration of the flight, Rex had remained in his civilian clothing, only now thinking to get changed back into his clone trooper armour. Alongside his armour in his duffle bag, were the two blasters that had accompanied Rex throughout the clone wars and about a dozen explosive charges, as well as a field first aid kit, which contained the canister of biofoam which he needed. After getting ready, he walked back out into the hanger bay. The bodies of the six guards that had occupied this space before Rex and Gregor had commandeered the ship were still lying there; perfect for the search party to find. Rex and Gregor waited silently in the hangar for the right time to jump from the main door. Finally, from cockpit's console, came a warning tone that an unknown vessel was scanning them. That was the cue Rex had been waiting for.

"Let's go" He ordered and smashed his fist against the hangar door controls. The vacuum caused by the opening door instantly sucked the two troopers out into the depths of space, as the shuttle continued its course towards the _Praedor_ class behemoth. The temperature regulators in their suits kicked in instantly, protecting them from the harsh conditions of space. They twisted their bodies so that they were lying with their bodies face down, relative to the imperial blockade. Holding the biofoam at their chest, they let out a burst in synchronization, propelling them towards the blockade. They continued on their course towards the blockade, quickly passing the shuttle that they had just left, and continuing towards the _Praedor._ As they got closer, they could make out the massive letters printed down the starboard hangar door; _Night of Solace_.

"So, this is the legendary ship that Palpatine himself flew on its maiden voyage" Gregor commented.

"It would appear so" Replied Rex, in awe of the sheer size of the beast. Up close, the _Night of Solace_ appeared even bigger, stretching on for what seemed like forever into the distance. The clone's train of thought was derailed as a single burst of light was fired from one of the huge starboard cannons, blasting the shuttle that he and Gregor had occupied a mere couple of minutes ago, instantly vaporising it. As predicted, the hangar doors slid open. The design of the _Praedor_ class was almost identical to that of the _Venator,_ only on a much larger scale. The doors that ran almost the entire length of the deck, to the base of the bridge towers, of which the _Praedor_ had two pairs, slid open to reveal a four-tiered hangar, lined the entire way with fighters, bomber, shuttles and transports; including two _acclimator_ class warships on each side.

Rex and Gregor froze, as just mere meters above them, a shuttle, and four search ships, equipped with flashlights and powerful sensors of all types whizzed over the two clone troopers heads, towards the wreckage of their abandoned shuttle. Rex silently motioned for the two of them to continue scaling the side of the enormous warship. The made their way over the edge of the ship, and onto the main deck. Just in front of them were the enormous hangar doors, which had slid open only moments earlier. _Long Night of Solace_ was packed. Between every starfighter, bomber and transport was a group of armed Kamino guards. The elite clone troopers donned armour that bore markings identical to that of the prestigious Coruscant Guard, only in grey. Rex and Gregor spotted one unoccupied hangar bay on the top floor, only about twenty meters away from them. With the last of their biofoam, they propelled themselves over to the empty hangar, it must have been where one of the search ships was docked.

Once the clone troopers were through the energy shield, which was quivering with energy, they felt their bodies being gripped by the familiar force of gravity, and being pulled to the ground. Gregor landed smoothly, absorbing most of the impact with his knees. His many years as a clone commando he had experienced boarding enemy ships many times. Rex, however, was not so experience, and stumbled forward as he landed, unable to perfectly absorb the 3-meter drop. He was able to stay on his feet, and together, the two troopers exited the hangar bay, and entered the pristine corridors of the star ship.

"Drop pods are normally near the bridge, so I guess we start there" Rex stated and began walking down the corridors of the ship, towards the bridges, slowly, as not to draw too much attention. The two clones, dressed in their 501st dressage and Republic Commando armour stood out in the sea of grey marked troopers, however, no one stopped them.

"Just one question" Greogor whispered to Rex on the move "You're plan with the drop pods was a good one, but that only gets us onto the planet. Right now, for whatever reason, these clones aren't attacking us, but the moment that they notice two drop pods have gone missing, they'll know somethings up. After that, it won't be long before a clone battalion, the size of one I've never seen before, comes raining down all hell on us. So, I've got another idea"

"Go on" Rex replied, making sure the guards on either side of them didn't overhear.

"We hijack this ship, and use it to take out the rest of the blockade, giving us right of way onto the planet. A ship this size would have jammers which are easily capable of blocking the signals from the _Venators_. No one down there would even know we're coming."

"And how do you think two clone troopers are going to take over the largest ship in the entire Republic Navy? For a starter, there are two bridges, that means we have to split up, stacking the odds even further against us." Rex replied.

"We make the odds as much back in our favour as possible. You're captain of Anakin Skywalker's 501st; everyone knows he's caught up in this, they'll trust you in a heartbeat. As for me; I'm a clone commando, I probably outrank everyone on this ship… Except maybe the captain" Gregor smirked. As much as Rex didn't want to admit it. To try and take on a Republic _Praedor_ class vessel was a suicide mission. But Gregor was right, the original plan was doomed. If they were going to do this, Gregor's option was the only way. After several minutes of continuous walking they reached an intersection, where they would have to separate, each to go their own way.

"Good luck" Rex said to Gregor as they peeled off in different directions, Rex took the left, towards the communications bridge, whilst Gregor took the right, towards the controls bridge.

"I'll contact you when the shooting starts. You'll need to jam those ships once that happens." Gregor reminded Rex.

"Aye, aye." Saluted Rex.

Rex made his way down the hallway for another couple of minutes until he reached the elevator that headed towards the communication bridge. At the bottom stood two clone officers, dressed in the same clone armour as the rest of the Kamino Guard, only each with a dark grey, military cape draped over their outside shoulder. Rather than wielding rifles in their arms, each held a matching grey force pike. As Rex approached, the two officers tilted their pikes towards each other, crossing infront of the door to deny Rex access. Rex continued to stride confidently towards the officers, his Kamas bouncing of his legs.

"I'm here to see your starboard captain" Rex stated confidently.

"Show me credentials" Said the left-hand guard. However, before Rex could respond, the guard realised who he was talking to.

"Sorry sir, I didn't realise you were captain of the 501st!" The guard exclaimed. "Heil Lord Vader" he added as their pikes uncrossed and Rex stepped into the lift. The moment the word Vader reached his ear he knew who the officers were referencing. Rex's suspicions had been right, Anakin Skywalker was more than aware of what was happening, he was helping to lead it. The ride up the shaft was short. It took no more than 15 seconds for the elevator to ascend the 100 meters or so between the corridors and the two bridges that were linked to form one command bridge in charge of all things communications. His elevator arrived and Rex stepped out into the left hand-side room. The room he was in was identical to the on the _Venator_ class star destroyers. Two pits in the floor were used for most members of the crew, whilst a raised command walkway separated them, with the captain and his left and right-hand men patrolling the area. To his right was a linkway to the other room; an identical room, which together with the room he was in, formed the communications bridge. In the linkway was a control panel, with one well decorated general in the middle, Rex assumed that this was the Starboard captain. Rex scanned the spacious bridge. On each command walkway stood one clone commander; one of the highest ranks in the Republic Navy, supported by two officers. In each pit, of which there was a total of four, worked six crew members, each attached to their various screens and monitors. Other than the general, the commanders, and their officers, there were only four other armed troops in the room. These were the officers guarding the exit to the elevators, they were identical to those who guarded the bottom of the lifts. The lack of guards was due to the Republic's focus on stopping any opponents before they reached the bridge. If they did make it there, protocol was to make sure they didn't get their hands on any sensitive data, this often-meant self-destruction. Therefore, the guards up here were only there to by the commanding officer, in this case the general, enough time to self-destruct the vessel. Out of the panoramic windows, Rex could see the search party return from their search. Rex hoped that the general hadn't put two and two together, and realised that he was responsible for the theft of the Emperor's personal shuttle. He walked over to the general and saluted.

"My name is general Encerom" said the general as he stuck out his hand towards captain Rex.

"Captain Rex sir." Replied Rex as he eyed up the general. The general was the only person who wasn't a clone that Rex had seen so far onboard the _Night of Solace._ His hair was completely shaven, revealing a tattoo of a double headed eagle covering his scalp. The mark of the Chancellor's, now the Emperor's, personal guard. The best of the best, handpicked for the most elite roles in the military. Encerom stood about 4 inches taller than Rex, and had a much bulkier build. His standard grey admiral uniform, worn by all ships' commanders, was heavily decorated in medals, pinned across his chest. A gold chain went from his general's shoulder pad, to his collar. Rex knew the chain, it was awarded to all commanding officers who survived the battle of Theed, the first time that the Trade Federation had used their droid army against the Republic. As he looked at the general, Rex was assessing him. His sheer size and strength was undoubtedly greater than that of Rex, but that would mean that he would most likely be slower than the clone captain.

"I'm so sorry Rex but I don't seem to remember you boarding this ship, did Lord Vader send you?" The general's line of inquiry made it clear that he was suspicious. Rex did not yet have a plan on how to single headedly take control of the bridge, especially now he knew there was a member of the Emperor's guard onboard.

"Yes, he did, I've been onboard since your last supply delivery, I have simply been checking out this fabled warship." Rex knew his reply was weak, but it should hold up long enough for him to formulate a plan. There was no way he could take on the General. Alone? Maybe, but not with the other officers and captains on the deck. At that moment, his commlink lit up, signalling that it was time to disable the communications. If he didn't get disable them soon, all of Kamino would know they were under attack, and Rex and Gregor wouldn't stand a chance. An alarm sounded in the bridge. The emergency red lights began swooping around the room. General Encerom's eyes narrowed, he knew that the trooper who had mysteriously boarded his ship was behind this. He lashed out with a closed fist, slamming it into captain Rex's face, knocking the 501st commander to his knees.

"Get him!" Encerom yelled at the surrounding guards and officers, as he shifted his focus to warning Kamino of the eminent threat. But before anyone else could react, Rex raised his blaster, not at the general, but towards the panoramic windows.

With a bang, the room was transformed into chaos. Rex, had already activated his magnetic boots, gluing him to the floor. But the ship's crew were not so prepared. The instant vacuum sucked out the shattered glass, followed instantly by the crew onboard. All except one. The general had seen Rex raise his blaster out of the corner of his eye and instantly reached out for the command console, and holding onto it for dear life. Less than a second after the chaos had begun, the _Night of Solace_ security systems kicked in, slamming the blast doors shut over the broken glass, and restoring normal gravity to the bridge.

Rex was already up and moving, slamming his entire body into the general, forcing his hands off the console. The two of them rolled across the hard-metallic floor ending up a meter apart. Once again Rex was first to his feet, his speed and reflexes giving him the upper-hand so far. In the collision, his blaster had gone flying across the room, but he still had a second one strapped to his belt. The alarms were still ringing out through the entire ship, and if Encerom made it to the command console, they would be ringing out in every ship in the whole blockade, not to mention the cloning facility itself. Rex had to prioritise. He needed to get those elevators offline, trapping the rest of the clones onboard the body of the ship, and keeping the bridge under his control. In the same amount of time it took for Rex to fire two precise shots at the control panel of each elevator, rendering them useless, Encerom had gotten back to his feet and was halfway to the command console. Rex couldn't risk shooting at him, in case he hit the console, making it impossible to jam the other ships. Instead he threw his blaster with all his might at the back of the general's head, and sprinted to intercept him. With a thud, the blaster crashed into the tattooed skull of the general, causing him to stagger forward, almost losing his footing, but he stayed upright. But, the trip had slowed him down enough for Rex to catch up. Coming in from the side, Rex slammed his foot into the general's abdomen. The pain forced the general to turn around and face his attacker.

Encerom realised that he wasn't going to make a broadcast whilst this clone was still breathing, so he changed his focus. If this trooper wanted a fight, he'd give him one. Rex kicked again, this time aiming higher; at the general's neck. But the imperial guard was the best of the best. With extra human strength, Encerom grabbed Rex's foot with both hands, stopping it dead in its tracks, then tossing it aside. This threw Rex completely off balance. He stumbled to the side, and Encerom seized the opportunity to land two swift blows, one with each fist to the sides of Rex's helmet, followed up with an uppercut, which slammed into the clone's breastplate. Rex doubled over, winded from the brutal salvo of attacks that he had just endured. But he didn't even have time to catch his breath before a knee slammed into his helmet, cracking his visor and whipping his head back, right into Encerom's elbow, which drove Rex's face into the floor. Rex quickly rolled onto his back so that he could look up at his foe.

Encerom knelt down and rose a fist, ready to slam it over and over into the traitor's head, pummelling him in the name of his new Emperor. But Rex had other idea. He waited just long enough for Encerom's fist to begin its flight towards his head, before rolling out of the way and kicking up with both his feet, sending the general stumbling backwards. Rex leapt to his feet and charged at the general, tackling him into the wall. Using one arm to pin the general against the wall, Rex ripped one of the medals that was pinned to his shirt, off his chest, and drove the pin into the general's left eye.

"Traitor!" Encerom howled in pain, thrashing around. His strength was too much for Rex to keep pinned against the wall. Encerom broke free, and grabbed Rex's throat, holding him up in the air so that his feet were about six inches off the ground. Rex wriggled around, trying desperately to grab some air, but to no avail. He was losing consciousness. His vision was fading.

"You and you're useless kind. No one created in laboratory could ever truly withstand the might of the Empire" Encerom sneered. Taking his time to gloat in the face of victory. In one last effort, Rex kicked out once more, but this time he connected, causing just enough of a wince for him to break free. He wrapped around behind the general and grabbed the end of the chain connected to his shoulder pad. He unclipped it and twisted it round the general's throat with lightning speed. The general was caught off guard, and just for a moment, Encerom froze. This momentary lapse of judgement was all Rex needed to tighten his grip on the general. Soon the general's body began to spasm, before stopping, and staying completely still. Rex dropped the body and slid down against the wall, until he was sitting on the floor, panting and exhausted. The sirens and flasing red lights had faded into the background as he sat there. After a minute to regain his breath, Rex activated his commlink.

"Gregor, we're all clear on my end."


	7. Mustafar

**Mustafar**

The _Zipper_ starfighter popped out of hyperspace above a burning, fiery planet.

"Anakin is down there?" Ahsoka asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice. She had never a seen a planet that looked so inhabitable, planets covered in fungi and swamp, but never lava.

"I believe so" came the voice of Obi Wan from his stern gunner seat. Unsure of where on the ungodly planet her former master was, Ahsoka began a scan. The systems on the _Zipper_ were not designed to scan entire planets. Luckily Mustafar was only a dwarf planet, but it could still take hours before the scan was complete.

"This scan might take a while. I'm going to get some sleep" the young Padawan called out to the master. Obi Wan agreed and shut his eyes for the first time in what felt like forever.

The two Jedi were awoken about two hours later by a bleeping coming from the main console. Ahsoka blinked sleepily and looked at what she assumed was the completed scan, however, the screen said that the scan was only 97% complete. The alert was coming from somewhere else. She quickly scanned the dashboard and located the source of the alert. There was another ship coming out of hyperspace.

"Obi Wan…" Ahsoka called out uneasily.

Obi Wan's eyes sprang open to assess the situation. To his left he saw the ship pop into view.

"It's Padme" said Obi Wan, confused as to why the senator was here. He knew that Anakin and the senator were close, most likely closer than his old Padawan let on, but Padme Amidala was one of the last people he expected to see at a place like this.

"Hail her in, I would like to have a chat with her." Requested Obi Wan.

"Senator Amidala? This is Ahsoka Tano. I know what you must be going through right now, but Anakin isn't himself right now, please let us onboard so we can talk? I'm with Obi Wan, we just want to talk to you right now" Ahsoka pleaded over the transmitter to the signature silver royal starship of Padme Amidala.

A couple of minutes later, Ahsoka, Obi Wan and Padme sat around a table aboard the royal starship.

"What do you mean 'Anakin isn't Anakin'?" Padme asked. She was trying to stay strong but the shake in her voice was betraying her. Obi Wan nodded at Ahsoka to tell the senator. He decided that she would take it better hearing it from the Togruta, as they had always seemed to have a bit of a connection.

"Look, I kmow that this must be tough to hear but please let me finish before you make up your mind on anything. Okay?" Padme nodded in response to Ahsoka's soft spoken words. "Alright. I'm sure you know of the clones' betrayal, of how they hunted down the Jedi and slaughtered them. And you must know of Palpatine proclaiming himself emperor of the new galactic Empire. And you're smart enough to have figured out by now that Palpatine was not only behind the clones' betrayal, but behind the war itself. But what you probably don't know is that Anakin was behind it too." Ahsoka paused as Padme began to sob quietly, her fears being confirmed.

"Palpatine has played him. Just like he played all of us. He has twisted his mind until it is no longer recognisable. He's turned to the dark side Padme" Tears began rolling down Ahsoka's cheek as she spoke these words. It was not until she had said them out loud that she had really comprehended what had happened to her former master. He was like a father to her. And here she was, with his family. Padme the lover, Obi Wan the brother, and Ahsoka the child.

"He has killed Jedi, even younglings" Each sentence was getting harder for the young Togruta to say. Obi Wan patted her on the back as her head dropped into her hands.

"It's alright young one" Obi Wan tried comforting her, before picking off where Ahsoka left off. "I don't believe that it is too late for him though. If we can just talk to him. All of us together, then perhaps we can turn him back to the light. Maybe we can save him." Obi Wan's words were calm and unfaltering, giving much needed stability to the emotional conversation. His voice soothed the other two seated at Padme's table, and restored composure to the room.

"But if he's done all these things… These horrible things that you claim he has done, how do we know he won't just attack us, or worse, ignore us?" Padme asked.

"He won't attack you. If he doesn't know we are here then you will be able to talk to him one on one, hopefully that will be enough to bring Anakin back from the clutches of evil. But ultimately, we don't. All we can do is trust in the force, and hope that he does the right thing" Replied Obi Wan. The three were in agreement, they had to try and reach out to their friend.

Padme's royal starship touched down on Mustafar with lava billowing out behind it. They had landed on a landing pad out the front of what appeared to be the only building on the planet. Two walkways stretched out towards the building, one on either side of the platform. They had landed in the middle of the pad, with the bow of the ship facing a sheer black cliff, whilst the stern, and therefore the hangar door that they were about to exit out of, overlooked a massive drop, at the bottom of which a flowing river of molten lava could be seen. A hooded figure came running out of the building to meet them. As he got closer he removed his hood, revealing the face of Anakin Skywalker, his eyes glowing amber with the power of the dark side. Anakin had always been a touch arrogant, but the swagger that had now found its way into his stride took that arrogance to new level. The door of the ship hissed open revealing a pregnant Padme standing atop the ramp.

"Anakin" Padme muttered, lost for words.

"Padme" Anakin smiled at her. "What are you doing here".

Padme sprinted down the ramp to her husband and embraced him. "I've heard horrible things about you. Th-that you've turned to the darkside, that you've betrayed the Jedi." At the mention of thi, Anakin grew stiff with rage.

"The Jedi are evil, Padme. They betrayed _us_. Everything that has happened, everything that I've done, it has all been for you" Anakin tried to justify his actions, to convince his wife of hos perspective.

But Padme was repulsed. She pushed him away, disgusted by what she was hearing. Padme couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"How could you possibly think that I wanted any of this. I just want to go back to how things were. I love you Anakin… But I hate what you have become". Padme had started crying again, barely comprehending everything she was saying. Yet it was all true, she could never be with someone who kills for his own personal benefit.

"You don't know what you're saying" Anakin replied, "come inside with me and we can talk things over" Anakin pleaded, beckoning for her to come back to him.

"No… I can't" Padme whispered.

Anakin's rage began to return.

"I said, come with me". Anakin's voice had grown angry, and his voice, which had started at normal volume, had become a scream by the end of his sentence. Padme was shocked at her lover's sudden rage, and froze where she was.

"Fine" Anakin said and raised his hand up in the air. Slowly, Padme began to feel a tightness wrap around her throat. She couldn't believe what was happening. She tried to scream at Anakin, plead for him to put her down, but no noise would come off. Her hands came up to her throat, trying to pry the invisible hands off her throat, beginning to grow faint. "If you won't willingly follow me, I'll have to force you to"

"Anakin!" A calm, familiar voice yelled from the ship that Padme had exited just minutes earlier. Anakin looked up to see two figures standing at the top of the ramp. "What do you think you are doing? Take a look at yourself for crying out loud. You don't want to hurt her, not after all that you have been through for her."

Anakin hated the words he was hearing, but knew that his master was right. He reluctantly loosened his grip on his wife, allowing her body to crumple to the floor, and moved his attention to the Jedi standing atop the ship's ramp. Ahsoka sprinted down to Padme's motionless body, to check for signs of life. Obi Wan continued "it's not too late to come back Anakin. We can fix this, please come back." Obi Wan pleaded with his Padawan.

"You think I want things to go back to how they were?" Anakin scorned back. "No, I don't think so. I hate you, and you will pay for what you have done!". With that Anakin ignited his lightsabre, and performed a jump of incredible power. Propelling himself towards Obi Wan, who had not yet drawn his weapon. Anakin had his blade over his head, and as he landed in front of his previous master, he thrust downwards, using both the full power of his body, but also the power of his landing, to slam his lightsabre down onto Obi Wan. But Obi Wan had seen it coming, and in the split seconds between Anakin's leap, and his landing, Obi Wan used the force to draw his blade, and block the Anakin's attack.

"You don't truly think that Anakin!" Obi Wan grunted whilst he fended off his attacks. "Palpatine has twisted your mind."

Anakin relented on his downwards hacks at the master, and strafed around him, attempting to attack his side. But Obi Wan was matching him blow for blow. Anakin's aggressive, powerful fighting style allowed for an advantage in close quarters engagements, so now that Anakin had moved away from the exit, Obi Wan took the opportunity to jump out of the ship, and onto the landing spacious pad. Anakin stopped for a moment, to star down at his former friend, now enemy.

"He's the only one that can save Padme! All that the Jedi want is to tear us apart. He listens to me! That's more than anyone at the Jedi Order could do for me!" Anakin yelled at Obi Wan. He began walking ominously down the ramp towards his adversary, his lightsabre scraping up sparks on the floor as it hung from his hand.

"Save her?" Obi Wan said in disbelief, "Anakin, it is he who started this war, endangering everyone, and him who has tried to assassinate Padme on multiple occasions. You don't honestly think he cares about you do he? He's using you!" Anakin was having none of it. With a shake of his head, to tell Obi Wan that he was wrong, Anakin picked up his pace and began running towards his master. He swung right, once again only to meet his master's blue blade, but quickly swung left. But Obi Wan was still blocking his strikes perfectly. Up, down, left and right, his swings couldn't break Obi Wan's impenetrable defence. He swung again at Obi Wan's head, forcing his blade against Obi Wan's, slowly inching closer to Obi Wan's face.

By now, Ahsoka had made sure Padme was alright, and was ready to join the fight against her own master. She took one last look at Padme, and then turned to face the battle she was about to enter. The two Jedi were swinging ferociously at each, at incredible speeds that Ahsoka knew she could not match. Suddenly the repetitive noise of swinging lightsabres clashing against each other over and over was replaced by a constant hum, as she saw Anakin press his lightsabre against Obi Wan's, inching their blades closer to the Jedi Master's face. She knew she had to do something. She pushed out with both hands, sending the strongest force push she could muster at her master.

Anakin was caught off guard. He had been so focused on Obi Wan that he had not noticed his former apprentice enter the fight. The force push slammed into his side, picking him up off the ground and sending him hurtling through the air, towards the edge of the landing pad. He skidded to a halt, mere inches from the edge of the platform. He glanced down at the massive drop into the flowing lava below, and the returned to the task at hand. His lightsabre had landed nearby. Outstretching his bionic hand towards his weapon, and leapt to his feet. He stood strong, holding his lightsabre in both hands, ready to defend himself from the attacks that he was sure were about to rain down on him. But to his surprise, his two foes stood where they were when he had first been thrown of his feet. Their defences were lowered and they showed no intentions of attacking him.

"Anakin, please. Lower your weapon. This is not a fight you can win, let us talk this out" One final plea came from Obi Wan.

"As always master, you underestimate my powers." Anakin replied, his voice filled with hatred. He had gone too far to back down now. With amazing speed Anakin threw his lightsabre, like a frisbee, towards Ahsoka, and sprinted towards Obi Wan. The lightsabre flying towards Ahsoka Tano forced her to dive out of the way, rolling along the ground and then standing back up with her lightsabres at the ready, expecting to have to deflect a blow from Anakin. Instead she saw the sabre flying off in the opposite direction, towards Anakin who was now almost on top of his former master.

Once again blue clashed with blue. The intensity of Obi Wan and Anakin's duel had increased another notch. Strikes were being dealt with ferocious speed, yet every blow was still skilfully blocked by Obi Wan, who was still reluctant to swing back, unable to bring himself to harm the man he had once thought of as a brother. This defensive mind set was forcing Obi Wan to constantly be on the backfoot, and gave Anakin a definite advantage.

Ahsoka charged in, hoping to give Obi Wan a break from the onslaught he was receiving. She darted up to her master and struck at him, knowing that he would block her, but ensuring that he would be forced to switch his attention to the Togruta.

Ahsoka had never felt anything like the energy that her old master was emitting. His strikes were filled with hatred. The fast and powerful strikes were beginning to be too much for the young warrior, but her brilliant reflexes and nimbleness made her able to dart around the blows, and fend them off with her lightsabres. Anakin swung a powerful blow towards her upper body, forcing her to use both lightsabres to block his attack. Ahsoka pushed her hands down, forcing Anakin's down along with them, and leapt back in order to create more space between her and her attacker.

But Anakin had other ideas. He caught her in mid-air with the force, and began closing his grip around his young Padawan. Obi Wan had caught his breath by now, and broke Anakin's concentration with a precise swing at Anakin's thigh. Anakin sensed the attack, and stepped out of the way, but not in time to avoid a small cut on his leg to sizzle as Obi Wan's lightsabre scraped by.

Ahsoka dropped to the floor on all fours, gasping for air. She raised her head to see Obi Wan and Anakin back at it. Holding his lightsabre in one hand, Anakin was unleashing attack after attack all down the left-hand side of Obi Wan's body. The strain in Obi Wan's face was clear as he struggled to fight off such a rapid attack. He had to slow it down, so he waited for Anakin to swing another low blow, and then grabbed Anakin's wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

Anakin may have had one hand immobilised by Obi Wan's grasp, but his bionic hand was still free. He used this to lay a strong blow across Obi Wan's face, causing him to stumble backwards onto the bridge connecting the platform to the building that Anakin had come out of. Anakin strode towards him and swung with his lightsabre before Obi Wan had time to recompose himself. Obi Wan got his lightsabre up just in time for him to block Anakin's attack. From behind him, Anakin heard the footsteps of Ahsoka Tano running towards him. A sound that would have once comforted him, and given him hope, now caused anger in his heart. Anakin kicked out at Obi Waan's chest, using the force to assist his kick. Obi Wan was sent crashing into the outside wall of the building, his head whipping backwards and smashing into the wall, knocking the Jedi unconscious. Satisfied that he had subdued Obi Wan, at least for the time being, Anakin switched his focus to the Togruta making her way towards him.


	8. Kamino

**Kamino**

"This is Gregor, all clear on this end" came the reply on Rex's Commlink. Rex breathed a sigh of relief. They had done it. Just the two of them had taken over the largest ship currently in the Imperial fleet.

"We've got a choice. I have already blocked the other ships communications so the ground forces on Kamino will have no way of knowing we're on our way. But, there's nothing to stop the ships up here from sending reinforcements down to Kamino the second that they see us leave this ship. Right now, they have no idea that this ship has been hijacked. So, I propose that either we take our chances and hope we don't get spotted leaving this ship, or we use the _Long Night of Solace_ to destroy the rest of the blockade, and risk being killed before we even make it onto the planet." There was a brief pause before Gregor's reply came back over the commlink

"Well I don't know about you, but I've always wanted to pilot a _Praedor"_

Rex knew Gregor was just trying to look on the bright side of the task that they were about to undergo, but the idea of destroying whole ships filled with his brethren did unnerve the 501st commander. However, he knew that Gregor was right, there was no way that they could risk leaving the rest of the blockade up here. For all they knew, their orders were to start an orbital bombardment if anyone got through. With a blockade this large, Rex wouldn't be surprised. If that were to happen, that would mean the death of even more clones.

Rex gave the go ahead and sat down on the captain's chair. For now, there was nothing he could do. The broken windows were still covered by the blast doors, the bridge was cut off from the rest of the ship, and there was no way for him to help from the communications bridge, except jam the other ships' communications.

Meanwhile, in the control bridge, Gregor was familiarising himself with the dashboard of switches, levers and buttons splayed out in front of him. During his time as a commando in the Grand Army of the Republic, he had piloted a _Venator_ on a couple of occasions, and these controls seemed to be similar. He assessed his situation. The shield strength of the _Long Night of Solace_ was unprecedented, but he was not sure how long they would last against six fully armed _Venator_ ships. However, he estimated that they would last a good ten minutes before his opponents' firepower broke through. As he scanned over the diagnostics for the ships own armaments a smile crept over his face. With guns like these, there was no way he would need all ten of those minutes. The _Long Night of Solace_ contained state of the art weaponry that Gregor had only ever dreamed about. He had heard rumours that the Republic had experimented with using Kyber crystals to fuel some of their strarships' weapons, but had always thought they were just that; rumours. But this ship said otherwise.

One large canon was mounted at the base of each bridge, their design was reminiscent of the ion cannons that defended many major Republic outposts in the outer rim. With a crack of his knuckles and a grit of his teeth, Gregor initiated his assault on the blockade, not liking what he was doing. The sheer power of these cannons surprised Gregor. He had expected them to be powerful, but was not prepared for their full potential.

The whole ship rocked as the cannons fired, each in opposite directions, tearing through their respective targets in a single salvo. Gregor watched out the window as one _Venator_ on either side was torn in half, and pieces of debris were pushed from the explosions and fires that ensued on the two halves of the ship. As the remaining _Venators_ turned to position themselves against the _Night of Solace_ , two to the right, one to the left, and one in front, they were met by a wave of blaster bolts from the hundreds of ordinary cannons that were mounted on the _Praedor_. The entire space around Gregor was filled with green shots, the sheer number of which made short work of the _Venators'_ which were left shields. The never-ending onslaught of the _Praedor_ continued. There seemed to be an endless supply of turrets for Gregor to unleash upon the blockade, punching holes in the decks of his opposing ships. Any attacks made by the _Venators_ on the _Night of Solace_ seemed futile. The ship lit up as shimmers flickered all over the _Praedor'_ s hull, but the shield showed no signs of weakness, easily absorbing the attacks. Before long, all that was left of the blockade was debris floating through space, and one enormous flagship.

From within the communications bridge, Rex hadn't been able to see a thing, but he had felt what was going on. The shaking of the ship had given Rex a clear indication of what was going on, and the sudden calmness that had now descended over the ship signalled to him that the fighting was over.

"Time to get onto our home world brother" the voice came over Rex's commlink loud and clear.

"Yeah… you wouldn't happen to have some spare Kamino guard armour I could wear on the surface lying around do you?" Rex asked.

"There might be one or two sets on this bridge for you, what happened to the troops on your bridge?"

"I might have caused them all to be sucked into space." Rex's reply was met with laughter from the other bridge.

"I'll make sure that this ship is inoperable before I leave the bridge. Sit tight where you are, I'll make my way to you."

Gregor quickly got changed and shoved his commando armour into his nearly empty duffle bag, along with a change of armour for Rex, and set a charge on the command console. Gregor had been a bit more strategic than Rex at disabling his elevator, merely leaving it stuck at the top, so that when he got in, he could simply unjam it, and ride it down the shaft. As he rode down he detonated the charge, sending the control bridge into a thousand pieces of debris, now strewn across space.

The doors slid open to reveal four officers all with their blasters aimed straight at Gregor's chest.

"Don't shoot!"

Gregor was already on his knees, arms extended out towards his welcoming party in a sign of mercy, dressed in his Kamino guard uniform.

"What happened up there" barked one of the officers holding Gregor at gunpoint.

Gregor rose to his feet and dropped his arms.

"The captain went mad. He disabled the elevators and started attacking the other ships. I think he was working for the Jedi. He was saying that the Emperor was evil and had deceived us all. The other clones and I tried to stop him, but as you know, very few of us on the bridge were armed. There was nothing we could do, so I did what I had to, and blew up the bridge. Who knows what he could've done with access to a ship this powerful." Throughout his entire story, Gregor had been shaking. He had been trained well in the art of espionage and deception, and knew how to sell his lies. Despite this, the clone officers still had their suspicions.

"Alright, trooper, come with us for a quick debrief" ordered the same officer as before.

"Y-yes sir" Gregor's reply stuttered out of his mouth.

The three guards took Gregor's weapons and kept him at gunpoint as they began marching him towards the other bridge, unaware that it too was jeopardised. As they continued on their journey, the guards' cautiousness began to wane. Their guns dropped to their side, and their silence was broken by light chatter between each other. The entourage rounded a corner, into a corridor devoid of any life. Gregor took this opportunity to break free of his captors. One trooper was leading the way, whilst there was one trooper trailing slightly behind him on each side. Gregor leapt forward and wrapped his beefy arm around the lead guard's neck and spun him around, using his body as a meat shield to prevent the other two from shooting at him. He unclipped a pistol from the guard's holster and quickly dispatched the other two guards, their bodies crashing to the ground with a thud. Gregor maintained his grip on the clone that he already had in his clutches, shutting off the oxygen supply to his body before violently jerking his arm, as to break the clone's neck, and as he released, the third body hit the ground. Gregor made a quick stop to hide the bodies in a maintenance cupboard before continuing towards Rex.

By the time Gregor arrived at the bottom of the communications bridge, Rex had managed to get the elevators working again. Gregor had expected the bottom of the elevators to be bustling with guards, making sure that whoever had hijacked the command bridge wasn't going to attempt the same thing here, but to his surprise, it was empty. Gregor stepped inside the lift, and seconds later was standing on the second bridge of the _Night of Solace._

"I'm assuming the lack of guards down there had something to do with you?" Gregor asked as he embraced his brother, happy to see him still in one piece.

"Yeah. I sent out a code red in the hangar bay. Apparently, there was a Jedi spotted there" laughed Rex in reply. He wasn't really sure why he was laughing. He guessed it was probably just out of relief. Relief that against all odds; they had made it. They had taken on an entire blockade, and the two of them had come out on top. But he knew that was the easy part. Now they had to figure out what was going on down on the planet. Through Gregor's destruction of the command bridge, the _Night of Solace_ had been rendered useless, cutting off any chance of orbital backup to the cloning facility, and cut off the only way of opening the hangar bay doors, ensuring that the only way onto the planet was either the single man drop pods, or the escape pods. Gregor handed Rex his Kamino Guard outfit and he quickly got changed into it, but made sure he took his 501st armour with him.

Together, the two rebellious clones walked the hallways of the behemoth. They were heading for the drop pods, as they were the subtlest mode of orbit to surface transport, but they made sure that they ejected all the escape pods and other drop pods along the way, as to avoid being followed. Once there were only two drop pods left on the entire ship, they stepped in and ejected, hurtling towards the planet at speeds that would make most people nauseous, but not hardened veterans such as these two.

The two drop pods slammed into the cloning facility at the clones' home world of Kamino, kicking up pieces of rubble, as a large dent formed under each pod on the pristine bridge of the facility. The inclement weather was a perfect mask for their arrival, as even as they landed, very little could be heard over the crashing of the waves down below, and the thunder up above. Rex and Gregor stepped out of their pods and onto the bridge that they had landed on, sea water crashing up onto their feet. They had both spent a lot of time in this facility, and got their bearings quickly.

"The best place to start would be the cloning centre, where the chips are put in. We can grab a chip from there and examine it fully." Rex said as he began making his way towards the cloning centre.

The pair walked through three different buildings on their way to the clone centre, passing many clones and Kaminoans alike. However, their disguises held strong, and no one suspected that they were not part of the Kamino guard, and they made it to the cloning room with no interruption.

Once inside, the two clones got to work, examining the various pods and capsules containing the perfect replications of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett. They were alone in the room, that was full of large cylinders with rows of clones attached to them. Each cylinder represented a different stage in the cloning process, and contained about 500 pods. Rex brought up the earliest sector, and gave each capsule a scan. At this stage in the cloning process, the clones were merely foetuses, being supplied with the augmentations and supplements that gave the clones their accelerated growth rate and military prowess on the battlefield. The scan showed that there were no inhibition chips inside the clone foetuses. Rex moved onto the next stage in the process. As he initiated his next scan he was startled by the noise of the doors sliding open behind him. A tall, slender Kaminoan walked into the room. She walked over to the first cylinder that Rex had just left and began tapping away on the panel before looking up and noticing the two clones, who were unsure what to do, and stood still about ten meters away from her.

"Good evening." The soft words that left the Kaminoan's mouth, followed by a delicate bow before she returned to the routine system checks she was performing, were a relief to the clone troopers. The Kaminoan had unsettled the two clones, and they waited a couple of minutes until she left before returning to what they were doing.

In that time, the scan that Rex had initiated had finished, and the results showed exactly what he had hoped for. By the time the clones reached the second phase of their growth, the chips had been implanted. This meant that all the chips that were implanted, and the devices used to activate and implement said chips must be stored in a room adjacent to where they stood. All clones were processed in a separate room, known as a 'transition room', before they entered the next phase of their growth. The room for the transition between phase one and two was the closest room to the one they were in now. They headed outside onto a bridge which split off in two different directions, to the right was one of the training facilities, this one focused on small unit tactics, and straight ahead was the transition room they were looking for. Back outside, the storm raged on, and the rain pounding on the bridge and the clones' helmets was making it hard to see, but the guards that stood outside the transition room were unmistakeable. Not a single room they had been to so far in the facility had been actively guarded, let alone guarded outside in this weather. The two troopers decided to wing it and began walking towards the transition room.

As they drew closer they realised that the guards stationed at the entrance to this room were not clones. They wore black armour that bore much resemblance to the standard clone ARC trooper armour, but instead of the Kaminoan helmets that all clone troopers were equipped with, the guards wore black peaked caps. There was one officer on each side of the door, and once the two clones got within firing range, the guards moved into a firing position and raised their blasters to take aim at the advancing clone troopers.

"Halt! You are not authorised to proceed beyond this point. Turn around now or you will be shot." Ordered the guard on the left, firing a shot over the clones' heads as a warning.

"Follow my lead, if it doesn't work then we can always resort to slightly more aggressive negotiations." Rex whispered to Gregor, before elevating his voice and directing himself towards the two guards. "I am CT-7567, also known as Captain Rex. I am the commanding officer in charge of the 501st legion, under command of Lord Vader. If you do not allow me through then I will personally see to it that you have a meeting with Vader himself and explain why you shot his commanding officer."

With that Rex continued striding towards the two guards. The officers were clearly uneasy, but neither of them wanted to be on the wrong side of Darth Vader.

Rex walked through the doors and Gregor followed closely behind. Staring them in the face as soon as they were inside was a large computer, hooked up to a series of complicated relays and devices that neither of the clones had ever seen before. Gregor got to work hacking into the computer, eager to see what it was used for, whilst Rex set about exploring the rest of the room. All along the side wall of the room were various operating theatres, equipped with pieces of advanced medical equipment, and medical droids in power saving mode. Other than the operating theatres, and the computer, the only objects in the room were shiploads of crates.

Rex walked over to one and tried to pry it open. It was locked. He pressed the muzzle up against the sealing between the case and its lid, and wrapped his hand over it, in order to muffle any sound that the blaster produced. A searing pain shot into his hand as he squeezed the trigger and the muzzle burned red hot for a second. However, his armour had taken most of the heat, and he knew his burns would not be serious. He glanced over to the door to make sure the guards hadn't heard, and then continued to open the box.

The box was filled with the chips that Rex recognised from when the Jedi council had discovered their existence a few months earlier. Rex reached in and retrieved one of the chips, turning it over in his hand. It was odd. For all his life, up until mere months ago, he had had one of these sitting in his brain, dormant, waiting for him to betray his closest friends. His thoughts were interrupted by Gregor, who was quietly calling out for him to come and look at something he had found. Rex put down the chip and walked over to see what his brother had found.

Meanwhile the guards outside were getting sceptical. They had heard nothing about a visit sanctioned by Vader, and couldn't contact _Night of Solace_ for any more information. The clones had been in there for longer than the guards were comfortable with and they were growing nervous. If they weren't out soon they would have to check what they were doing.

Back inside, Rex couldn't believe what he was seeing on the screen. Finally, some good news. Not only was it possible to deactivate the chips inside his brothers' brains, but they could do it from here. All it took was a simple code, transmitted from a device set to the right frequency, and just as easily as they were turned on, they could be turned off.

"What are we waiting for?" Rex smiled, and Gregor began the process of transmitting the code. IT would take a couple of minutes before the transmitter was ready, and the two clones decided to spend this time seeing if there was anything else to be found in the room. But their search was cut short.

In through the door came the two guards, who instantly noticed the display on the computer monitor. The clones were on the far side of the room, too far away to stop the guards from first destroying the relay, and with it, any chance of sending out the deactivation codes. The guards then turned their attention to the clones, but in the time that it had taken them to disrupt the broadcast, Rex had drawn his weapons and the guards didn't have time to get any shots off in the clones' direction before their skulls were drilled through by the blaster bolts from Rex's weapons.

But the clone didn't care about winning their duel, because they had lost their last hope. They both raced over to the monitor. Gregor beat Rex to it and quickly analysed the situation.

"Thank god. The computer isn't damaged, do you have anything we can transfer these codes onto?" Gregor asked Rex.

"Take this." Rex handed his partner a small data pad, slightly bigger than his hand.

Gregor hooked it up and began transferring the codes over, while Rex got to work surveying the transmitter. From what he could tell, the main relay was completely ruined, the guards' blasters had completely torn a hole through the middle of it, and left it well beyond repair. But, from what Rex could see, the local relays were still intact, meaning that short ranged transmissions could still be made.

"Is there any way you could hook that data pad up to this?" Rex asked, holding up the local relay. These smaller transmitters were designed to be portable, and therefore were light and no bigger than a suitcase.

"I'll give it a go."

A few minutes later the transmitter was ready to go. The relay was designed to be able to encapsulate an entire planet, therefore, if everything worked, the chips inside all of the clones both on Kamino and the orbiting ships, would be switched off.

"Here goes nothing" said Gregor as he pressed transmit on Rex's data pad.


	9. Arbitrium

**Arbitrium**

Ahsoka sprinted across the bridge, suspended hundreds of meters above bubbling lava, towards her old master. Her arms were extended out behind her, one lightsabre clutched in each hand. As the distance closed she saw Anakin narrow his eyes and prepare for her impact. But she knew if she wanted to stand a chance, she would have to keep him guessing. So, at the last minute, Ahsoka skirted sideways, and ducked through the doorway that Anakin was standing next to.

Anakin spun around to face her, but she was already sprinting off towards the main room, luring Anakin away from his unfinished job with Obi Wan. Anakin gave chase. In bounding movements, he quickly closed the gap between him and Ahsoka. Ahsoka made it to the central room of the complex. The walls were lined with monitors and consoles regulating the facility's systems. She turned around to face Anakin and was surprised to see that he had stopped running, and was now walking towards her, his lightsabre dangling in his right arm, lightly brushing the floor, sending sparks into the air.

"Why are you doing this Anakin?" Ahsoka asked, her voice echoing in the almost silent room. The question only infuriated Anakin.

"To save her Ahsoka! I need to do this" Anakin spat as he lunged forward. His blue blade arced through the air towards the Togruta, who ducked under it, and continued backing up to the far end of the room.

"To save her?" Ahsoka said in shock. "Do you mean to save the woman that you just left unconscious outside? Anakin, you almost killed her!"

These comments only angered Anakin more, who unleashed a flurry of attacks on Ahsoka. Blinded by hate, his attacks were poorly aimed, but he made up for it with raw power and speed, slamming his lightsabre over and over again. Ahsoka used a combination of deflections and leaps to avoid Anakin's attacks. Ahsoka continued to try and reach her old friend.

"You haven't saved her, you've abandoned her, left her for dea-". Ahsoka was interrupted by a roar form Anakin as he swung his lightsabre down at Ahsoka. Ahsoka was only just able to raise her blades in time to block the attack. Both her lightsabres were held parallel across her face, just millimetres away from her skin, barely holding Anakin's attack at bay. She could feel the heat radiating off the blades, as Anakin's attack bore down on top of her. She stared up at Anakin, pure hatred in his eyes.

"How dare you talk to me about aboding the people you care for! Where were you when I needed you Ahsoka. I didn't abandon you. You abandoned me! You turned your back on me when I needed you most".

Anakin's attack had weakened in this time, still pressing too hard for Ahsoka to escape from, but no longer inching closer to her face. Ahsoka could sense a moment of vulnerability in Anakin. For the first time since Obi Wan and her had landed on Mustafar, she could sense something other than hate in her former master; confliction.

"I'm sorry Anakin" Ahsoka said, all the blame that she had already given herself for her friend's turn to the dark side, now amplified by what he was saying, "but I have come back for you now. And you can still go back for Padme, it's not too late to make things right".

Anakin deactivated his lightsabre and took a step back, shaking as he finally came to grips to everything he had done over the last couple of days. Ahsoka deactivated her lightsabres too, but kept her distance in case Anakin had a sudden change of spirit.

"You're right" Anakin's voice was barely audible, his whispers soft, speaking more to himself than to his former Padawan. "Even if my new powers could save her, would she even want to be saved if it meant living with the monster that I have become."

Ahsoka cautiously walked over to Anakin to comfort him.

"Everything I've done... You could have stopped me Ahsoka, you were always there to keep me in line. It tore me apart when you left the Order. You were like the younger sister that I never had." He couldn't make eye contact with his apprentice whom he had let down so drastically. "I was always trying to be a role model for you, and when you left, I was lost. And now look at what I have become." Anakin continued, staring down at his hands, a singular tear streaking down his cheek.

"Those things, they weren't you. That was Palpatine, he made you do them" Replied Ahsoka, trying to comfort him.

"I always had a choice, even when I thought I didn't. _I_ was the one that led the assault on the temple, it was _me_ that ended so many innocent lives. So many people there that looked to me for support, for guidance, and I slaughtered them. Because I thought they had turned their backs on me? Because I blamed them for all of my problems. I despised them for what they did to you Ahsoka."

Anakin looked across to the Togruta standing next to him, his eyes begging for forgiveness.

"I hated them for the war, and for never understanding my problems. But now I see that it wasn't them I should have hated; it was Palpatine. He engineered all of it from the ground up and I was just another pawn in his game. Because that's what all this is to him; a game. And it's too late. I've done all these horrible things." By now Anakin was crying tears of regret, all down his face.

"You may have done those things, but that doesn't mean it's too late to repent, to atone for all that you have done. You can still make things right." Ahsoka's words instantly resonated with Anakin.

"You're right. I will make him pay for all that he has done. Not just for what he has done to the Republic, to the Jedi, but for what he has done for me. I will make things right."

With that Anakin recomposed himself and headed straight outside, past the unconscious body of Obi Wan, and to the crumpled body of his wife, lying on the landing pad. He knelt down next to her, cradling her head in his arms, using the force to slowly bring her back to consciousness.

Padme woke to see her husband's face, streaked with tears staring down at her. At first, she was unsure whether to be scared or happy, but when she noticed Ahsoka standing behind him, he knew that they had done it. Together, they had convinced Anakin to return to the man they knew, the man that Padme loved.

"I'm so sorry" Anakin muttered, tears rolling down his face, "I never meant to hurt you".

Ahsoka decided to leave the two of them together for a while and walked over to see if Obi Wan was alright. He was slumped against a wall, still unconscious. Ahsoka knelt down next to him, and placed her hand an inch from Obi Wan's face.

Using the force, Ahsoka slowly began stimulating the unconscious Jedi's mind, coaxing him back to consciousness. As his eyes blinked open, Ahsoka smiled down at him.

"We did it, we brought him back" Ahsoka said, feeling a combination of relief, and overpowering joy as she heard the words that she had just spoken, and finally processed what they meant.

Obi Wan returned the smile, and with a grunt, sat up, propping himself up against the wall. Ahsoka took sat down next to him and together they sat down, exhausted after their dual which had been both physically and emotionally exhausting.

From where they were sitting, they could see Anakin and Padme lying on the floor of the landing pad. All four of them were enjoying their momentary opportunity to relax and gather their thoughts after the events of the last few days. A calming silence had descended over them. There was so much to say, yet nothing needed to be said, and the constant bubbling and crashing of the lava below gave an odd sense of serenity.

"It's not over yet, you know" Obi Wan said, directing the words at the Togruta next to him, but keeping his gaze on the two lovers lying side by side on the landing pad. "The chancellor still needs to be stopped, and I don't think he will be happy about losing his favourite toy" he continued, referring to Anakin. Obi Wan's tone was sombre. He knew that the entire fate of the galaxy was in the hands of the four people, all sitting exhausted on an outer rim world, and a couple of clone troopers who refused to follow orders.

As if reading his mind, Ahsoka spoke up "There's nothing we can't do when we're together. Anakin, you, Rex and me, we always get the job done. Think of all the times we've been up against the odds, but we always pull through in the end. Today was just another example of that" Her voice was quiet, and Obi Wan could hear her apprehension for what lay ahead, but underneath that, she had a clear faith in her own words. She really believed that they could do it, they could defeat the Chancellor.

Obi Wan was less sure. He used to feel like that back when he was a Padawan, when he was Ahsoka's age. It wasn't until he watched his master die in his arms that he realised that sometimes, you don't win. If it wasn't for the guidance of Yoda, and the new responsibility placed on him by Qui Gon of teaching Anakin, then Obi Wan believes that his master's death would have ripped him apart.

And now, with Yoda presumed dead, and Anakin no longer in need of Obi Wan's training, He had very little left to motivate him to move forward.

It was unlike Obi Wan to dwell on the negatives, and he quickly snapped out of it, turning to Ahsoka and smiling at her in response. Ahsoka returned the smile before returning to her thoughts.

A little while later Ahsoka stood up.

"We should try to make contact with Rex. See how things are going on his end with him." She said. She turned to Obi Wan and extended her arm, offering him a hand up off the ground. Obi Wan took it thankfully and rose to his feet. Together they walked towards Padme's ship and up the ramp into the cockpit.

Anakin noticed the two enter the ship and stood up to join them, with Padme close behind.

"What's going on?" Anakin asked as he entered the ship.

"Before we came to Mustafar, we were with Rex" Ahsoka started explaining "He met up with another clone, an ex-commando named Gregor. Together they went to Kamino to see if there was any way for them to deactivate the inhibitor chips. We were meant to meet up with him afer we found you and take on the Emperor."

Ahsoka returned her attention to the dashboard in front of her whilst Anakin nodded in understanding. Within a couple of minutes, a hologram of the decorated clone trooper appeared on screen.

"It's good to see you commander Tano" Rex said in his usual militaristic tone.

"It's good to see you too Rex" Ahsoka smiled back "You seem… Alive. I'm taking it that means things went well on Kamino?"

"Long story short; the chips can be deactivated, but our transmitter only has enough range for about one planet at a time, and even with the chips disabled, some troopers still pledge their allegiance to the Emperor, after all, he is technically who we are meant to fight for. Luckily there weren't many here on Kamino that are against the Jedi, but I fear that those close to Palpatine, and those that have served under much harsher Jedi leaders will not be so willing to join our cause. There are just under two clone regiments that have now agreed to assist in our cause, as well as the crew of the _Praedor_ class star destroyer; _Night of Solace._ However, the ship is currently being repaired, and will not be operational for a couple of days at least. That leaves us with no means of transport to get these clones off planet any time soon."

"Is there any way that you can rendezvous with us en route to Coruscant?" Obi Wan asked "The Emperor would have felt Anakin's change of allegiance, meaning that he'll be looking for a new apprentice. If we can launch an assault on him before he finds his new apprentice then he will be vulnerable. It's much easier to take on one sith lord than two."

Rex thought for a bit turned around to talk to someone not in the hologram and then returned to face the Jedi.

"There might be a shuttle or two fitted with a hyperdrive, but beyond that there's no way out of here until that ship is repaired." Rex replied.

"Alright," said Obi Wan, stroking his beard as he often does when thinking, "take what troops you can and meet us on the way to Coruscant. Get the remaining troops to focus all their efforts on repairing that star destroyer ASAP, and as soon as it's ready, get them to come as reinforcements, we're going to need all the help we can get."

'Yes sir" Said Rex before ending the transmission.

Obi Wan turned to face Anakin.

"Are you ready" he asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be" Replied Anakin, who was starting to sound like his old self again. Obi Wan smiled at that. It was good to have his friend back by his side. Without further delay, Obi Wan plotted his course and began his ascent off Mustafar.

On Kamino, Rex had just ended his transmission with Obi Wan Kenobi and turned to Gregor, who was standing next to him. Together, they walked through the various hangars that stored the ships of Kamino. However, most of the ships docked in these hangars were not fitted with hyperdrives, due to the fact that troops normally only ever left Kamino in large numbers, using _Venator_ or _Acclimator_ class ships to transport them. The ships kept on world were normally used either as transport between the planet and the ships in orbit, or as fighters to assist in case of a space battle above the planet.

In the final hangar, they found two Nu-class shuttles, each capable of holding 20 troops.

"Gather up 40 of the finest troops you can find, we leave for Coruscant in two hours" Rex instructed.

"Aye, aye" responded Gregor, who ran out the door to round up their strike force.

Rex walked over to the ships and surveyed them. They had been modified for speed, losing all weaponry and plated with extremely thin armour to shed weight. They were ideal for reaching Coruscant in time to meet up with the Jedi, but would be useless for anything other than transportation. Rex took one last glance around the room, watching clones running around, looking for parts to repair the bridge of the _Night of Solace_. He knew that if that ship was not repaired in time, then he and the Jedi stood no chance of leaving Coruscant alive.

Rex turned and boarded one of the shuttles, making his final preparations before he departed to fight the biggest battle of his life.


	10. Contingencies

**Contingencies**

Emperor Palpatine was sitting in his office when he felt a sudden change in the force. His apprentice had let him down. He knew that it was a risk to put so much hope in someone who was already indoctrinated into the Jedi order. But as always, the Emperor had a contingency. It was always going to be too much of a risk for him to have rested all his hopes on young Skywalker. But first he had to deal with whatever had happened on Mustafar.

"Prepare my shuttle, I want to be on Mustafar as soon as possible". Croaked the newly appointed Emperor to his right-hand man, Mas Amedda. At almost two metres tall, and horns that extended far above his head, the blue Chagrian dominated most spaces, but when in the presence of the Emperor, he often found himself fading into the background as all attention was commanded by the dark lord.

"Yes sir" he replied with a bow and stepped out of the Emperor's office to relay Palptine's orders to the Coruscant Spaceport.

Palpatine stood up from his chair, adjusted the cufflinks on his garb and pulled on his black cloak, before retrieving two of the four lightsabres that he no longer had to hide. He tucked his weapons into his cloak and walked over to the door, pausing briefly for a quick glance out of the floor to ceiling window that gave him a panoramic view of the Coruscant metropolis. So many people outside, going about their daily lives, unaware that life as they knew it no longer existed. Palpatine smiled as he thought of how they all belonged to I'm now, and then proceeded towards the exit. However, just before he opened his office door, it was opened for him, by Mas Amedda re-entering his chambers.

"Sir, your shuttle is gone. Apparently, it was stolen by two rogue clones. They seemed to have caused a bit of damage on their way out. There have been no reports of it being sighted since."

Palpatine, who remained as calm as always, simply waved his hand.

"It is of no concern. I sense that I do not need to go to them, in time, they will come to me. My trip to Mustafar would simply speed up the process." Sheev Palpatine continued his walk through the door without hesitation. "Besides, we have other places to be right now."

With that, Palpatine left his quarters and descended to the landing bay of the Senate building, with Mas following close behind. As they made their way down the elevator Mas asked where it was that they were heading.

"And where might that be my lord?"

"The galactic prison of course. There are a couple of people that I am overdue a meeting with."

The doors slid open and the two government officials walked out into the sunlight. Across the pad was a docked car waiting to take them to their destination. Palpatine took his seat in the back and instructed Mas to sit in the front, the Emperor wanted to be alone.

With a flick of the wrist, he closed the window between himself and the front of the car, removing himself from the rest of the world in order to focus on his connection to the force. He did not think he would lose the impending battle between him and his short-lived apprentice, but he did know that he should not underestimate the young Skywalker.

After about half an hour, they had left the central metropolis of Coruscant and were now in a much less densely populated area, on the outskirts of the business district. It was out here that one of the biggest buildings on the planet was; the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Centre, more commonly known as 'the Fortress', due to its impenetrable nature.

The Fortress was built in the shape of a 'U' and was comprised of four main sections; in the middle was the Admin area and guard barracks, as well as the rec hall and the gym, on either side of the central block was a wing of cells, high security on the right, low security on the left. But Palpatine was heading for the fourth section. Under-ground was where all the real threats were kept; Jedi killers, assassins, high treason committers, and if everything went to plan, the Emperor's new apprentice.

With his hood on, the newly appointed Emperor strode down the walkway that led him to the large doors of the prison. The grand prison wings towered up on either side of him, as he approached the entrance to the Fortress, casting a shadow over the Emperor.

Palpatine instructed Mas to wait for him outside and then entered the building. Without saying a word, he was let through the foyer and into the visitors' elevator. An entourage of Coruscant guards stepped in alongside him, their red markings showing their clear allegiance to the Empire, and their blasters tightly clutched at their sides. The ride was short and silent as the elevator took them deep under the prison, towards the most dangerous criminals that Coruscant had to offer.

There was a slight hiss as the doors slid open to reveal a dark hallway. On either side was a row of dimly lit cells, protected by a red ray shield, allowing no one in or out of the cell. Palpatine and his guards had stepped out onto the very bottom floor of the complex. The cells that they were passing were reserved for the worst of the worst. In each cell that they passed, was a terrorist, or, since the execution of order 66, perhaps a surviving Jedi.

Palpatine stopped at the end of the hallway. He was facing the most guarded cell of them all.

"Open it up" he croaked to the clones that had followed him.

"Yes sir". The clone put down his blaster and knelt next to the control panel. After a few movements of his hands and a look into the retinal scanner from the Emperor himself, the clone stood back and the ray shield dissipated.

The prisoner was against the far wall, back turned to the visitors that had just entered their cell. As with all the prisoners on this floor, this prisoner was permanently held in this position by a containment field.

"Release her" came the order from the Emperor once again.

"Yes sir" responded the same trooper, however, slightly uneasily this time. The clone followed a similar process to last time, and the prisoner dropped onto the floor from the containment field she had been held in.

"What do you want" the prisoner asked without turning around. It was not fear in her voice, nor helplessness, but instead a mix of anger and patience; two virtues that Palpatine always admired.

"You and I have a very similar goal you know" Palpatine said, carefully watching his potential prodigy to gauge how she was reacting. At this, she seemed to pick up a little bit of interest, so he continued.

"We have both seen through the lies of the Jedi, and we know the evil that they represent. And yet, neither of us think that the ignorant rabble of the general of the population can control itself without their power. But I do not stand here to convince you that we need the Jedi, because in case you haven't heard the news down here; we don't need the Jedi." Palpatine cackled slightly as the words left his lips. "No. I am down here to offer an alternative. The people need to be controlled, and we need the force to do that. But not the Jedi. I am that alternative. _We_ can be that alternative."

The prisoner finally turned around, and the young face of Barriss Offee looked up at her new Emperor.

"What's in it for me?". Her expression was unreadable.

"Unimaginable power, and a chance for you to finally settle your debt with the Jedi, and all you have to do, is accept my tutelage and fulfil your destiny to become a lord of the Sith". The Emperor smiled as Barriss rose to her feet.

"I accept, my master" Barriss gave a slight bow and stepped forward to stand toe to toe with Palpatine.

"Good." Palpatine smiled. "Now prove it."

No more words were needed. Barriss took a step back and rose both arms up in the air. The two clones on either side of the Emperor flew into the roof with enough force to crack the reinforced concrete. Pinned to the roof, the clones were unable to reach for the blasters that they had dropped to the floor, or the side arms that were strapped to their belts.

"I have had a lot of time to meditate down here, I think you will find that I became your apprentice a long time ago." Barriss laughed slightly, enjoying her first freedom of movements in months. A bright red blast of lightning erupted from her fingertips, sending the clones into spasms against the roof and sucking the life out of their helpless bodies. After a few seconds, Barriss allowed the scorched and sizzling bodies drop to the floor, and looked at her new master for approval.

"Excellent" Palpatine smiled "Now come with me, I must get you prepared."

Barriss followed the Emperor out of the cell that she had been confined to for so long. As they walked down the hallway, Barriss tested out her new powers, using the prisoners she passed as test dummies. Ripping prisoners from their containment fields, and throwing them into walls, leaving their crumpled bodies on the floor, trapped by the ray shields that separated them.

Together, the two Sith entered the elevator and ascended. But the Emperor had one more stop to make before they left the Fortress.

With a hiss, the doors slid open once more, and the pair stepped out onto the interrogation floor. Right in front of them floated a near unrecognisable figure.

Suspended six inches off the ground was the slumped body of Commander Cody. Held up only by the restraints tied around his wrists, Cody's naked body was covered in scars and burns from where he had been disciplined upon the Emperor's command. Cody found the energy to briefly raise his head to see who had entered his cell, before he dropped it back down to the floor, too exhausted to sustain his efforts.

"Your failures have been unacceptable Cody." Palpatine said as he approached him. "You allowed the Jedi Master Obi Wan to escape your grip not just once but twice. I gave you the opportunity to redeem yourself when he came to the Jedi Temple, and once again you proved that you're incapable." Palpatine lifted the clone's head so that they were looking each other in the eye.

"Yet I come to you again with a chance of redemption. The others in my council believe that you should be executed for your failures, and paraded around Coruscant as an example to all those unfit to be a part of our glorious Empire. But I am more… Forgiving. Although your failures cannot go unpunished, I recognize your ability as a leader. I believe that you still have worth to this Empire, and I will give you one last chance to prove your worth."

Palpatine allowed Cody's head to fall back down as he began to walk around the small room.

"What can I do? I can no longer control my troops, nor fight on the frontline! The clones around us would never take orders from me, and in this state, there is no way that I could be useful in a fight." Cody managed to wheeze.

"No, not as you are. But become my enforcer, and you will be followed." Palpatine waved his hand and the wall panel behind the tortured Cody slid away to reveal a healing station, and a black suit of armour awaiting an occupant. "Become Lord Vader, and all shall kneel before you" Finished Palpatine as Cody was dropped to the floor, landing on his knees before turning around to face the medical bay.

In the centre of the room was a table, surrounded by medical droids and equipment. But what Cody's eyes were drawn to was the suit of armour in the middle of the table. Even just the sight of it struck fear into anyone's heart. It was made up of pitch black leather and armour plating, with a full-face mask that would intimidate any soldier. On the chest was a control panel.

Cody was too weak to stand, but Palpatine simply levitated him over to the table and placed him inside his new suit.

"This suit will make you strong again. It will make your debilitated limbs whole again, and allow you to command your forces. The droids are not here to repair your failing body, they are here to improve what you have left. Jedi Master Yoda's body was recovered from a ship's wreckage just after the execution of order 66. His blood will grant you the ability to tap into the force. So, for now, I will leave you, and the next time we meet, I will have your first assignment as my new enforcer." Palpatine turned around and stepped back into the elevator doors, Barriss following close behind.

"But what of the council. They wish to see me dead, surely by keeping me alive you are risking a mutiny?" Cody asked as the elevator doors slowly began to close.

"The tasks that you will perform as Lord Vader will grant my Council their wish, one way or another."


End file.
